$1.2M Fajita Heist Gets Texas Man 50 Years

BROWNSVILLE, TX — A former Texas juvenile detention center employee admitted in court Friday that ordering 800 pounds of fajitas was “selfish,” but said he had gotten to the point he “couldn’t control it any more.” The judge wasn’t sympathetic and ordered Gilberto Escamilla, 53, of Brownsville, to prison for 50 years in the theft of the fajitas that cost more than $1.2 million.

Escamilla, who was fired from his job with the Cameron County juvenile detention center, said during a plea hearing to one count of theft by a public servant that the fajita heist “started out small and got bigger and out of control.”

In exchange for the plea, authorities dropped a charge of theft.

Escamilla’s scheme to purchase fajitas with county money and then resell them later began to unravel last August when a driver for the detention center’s food-service contractor called the kitchen to inform workers their 800-pound delivery had arrived, according to Cameron County Court records.

The hitch? Juveniles detained at the center aren’t served fajitas, the Brownsville Herald reported. That’s when the Cameron County District Attorney’s Special Investigations Unit began looking into the 800-pound fajita order and arrested Escamilla.

“It started out small and got bigger and out of control,” Escamilla said during his testimony Friday.

Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Peter Gilman said the case is unique in his experience and that he felt strongly visiting State District Judge J. Manuel Banales should send a “strong message” that theft by public servants will carry a long prison sentence.

In addition to the 50-year prison sentence, Escamilla was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay back the $1,251,578.72 tab for the fajitas.

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