IS JUSTICE ON HOLD IN BROWNTOWN, CAMERON COUNTY?

By Juan Montoya
It's been more than a year since the alleged illegal Civil Service hiring of Roberto Cadriel by Cameron County has been under investigation by county investigators and there still seems to be little progress made in the case.
And it's been months now since city health inspector Willie Gonzales shot and paralyzed a man and left  a woman wounded in the parking lot of a popular nightclub here.
To date, not only has the city police not filed any charges or arrested Gonzales, but it has remained mum on the case. In fact, the city has not even acknowledged the city official was involved.
Contrast this to the time that city officers shot and killed a student at Cummings Middle School. That same day Cabler showed up a press conference displaying a picture of the pellet gun said to be carried by the teenager.
And shall we also say it? It has now been months since a clerk at Aurora de la Garza's Cameron County District Clerk's child support collections office was found to have embezzled between $8,000 and $10,000 and we still haven't got to the bottom of that case. Melinda Gilman Gonzalez is said to gave resigned from her position at the county collection office for child support payments.
But that is only the tip of the iceberg.
In order to amass a $8,000 to $10,000 heist over time, it is only logical to assume that the indications of the pilfering were evident to her superiors, including De la Garza, way before the resignation occurred.

Why wasn't it discovered before?
Or was it discovered and then allowed to go on while suitable "arrangement" was found ?
These questions are circulating around the county and many are wondering whether Melinda G. Gonzalez's boss – after she had discovered the extent of the theft – herself attempted to sweep the scandal under the rug to save the DA's office, and her own reputation, the embarrassment of airing the issue to the public.
Gonzalez resigned on July 27, reported to the sheriff on the 30th and then was booked before Magistrate Luis Saenz on August 6. What happened in the meantime?
There are even some reports that affidavits exist in both the Aurora de la Garza office embezzlement case that indicate some efforts were made to keep the matter quiet, as well as in the Cadriel hiring scandal that some international bridge employees may have been told Hernandez wanted his brother-in-law hired.
We are now in October.
And now, as we move on to the November 6 elections, will the lame-duck Cameron County District Attorney suddenly spring into action and make his office accessible and available to the reams of evidence that has been gathered allegedly showing that the campaign worker of Democratic JP 2-2 candidate Erin Hernandez Garcia committed massive voter fraud to eke out a win over contender Yolanda Begum?
Word has it that the evidence is already waiting for the DA's office to make a decision on the case.
For the uninitiated, Cadriel is the brother-in-law of Cameron County Precinct 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez. Erin Hernandez is the daughter of the commissioner. Norma Hernandez, his wife, is said to also be included among the names gathered in the voter fraud query.
Melinda Gilman Gonzales' stepdad Peter and her mom are both employed by the DA's office. Willie Gonzales is the son of former longtime city secretary Lydia Gonzales, a close ally of City Manager Charlie Cabler.
The city has just acquired a new police chief, Orlando Rodriguez, who for the most part has proven to be less than dynamic in his role as the top law enforcement official in Browntown.
Are these men running interference for the son of their old acquaintance?
We have learned that the victim of the nightclub shooting has already acquired the services of an attorney and that it will only be a matter of time before the papers are filed in court. Will the city officials' apparent recalcitrance to even acknowledge the shooting could translate into a healthy settlement for the victims at the expense of the city?
With DA Armando Villalobos' term coming to an end in January and his trial for bribery and racketeering scheduled for April 2013, we suspect things will be put on hold at that office. But in the case of the Brownsville shooter, what's the excuse?