Brownsville investigating how missing check ended up in mayor's account

BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Police Department and Cameron County District Attorney's Office are investigating how a $26,139 check the city issued to a vendor in Hauppauge, N.Y., ended up in Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr.'s personal account, The Brownsville Herald learned.

"I asked for the investigations. I have nothing to hide," Ahumada said.

He offers two possible scenarios of how this could have happened: either someone with malicious intent to harm and discredit him deposited the check into one of his accounts; or, the city mixed up the check with a travel reimbursement or advance check, gave it to him, and he or a family member or associate deposited it by mistake. "There was no fraud by me," the mayor said.

Ahumada said neither he nor family members recall depositing the check.

He added that the writing on the deposit slip is clearly not his while the endorsement on the check resembles his writing, which family members are familiar with and at times endorse at his direction. "It's not unusual (for Ahumada and associates) to deposit large amounts of money," said the mayor, who is in the real estate appraising business.

"I have asked that the (bank's) security video be reviewed," said Ahumada. He said that the DA's office was brought on board to subpoena the video. "If someone went in there with the intent to harm me, we will know once the video is reviewed," the mayor said.

The check was deposited at one of the Compass banks, formerly Texas State Bank, in Brownsville at 9:34 a.m. on Oct. 28.

Ahumada said he left for Mexico City that day for a meeting on a proposed dam on the Rio Grande and doesn't recall making a deposit. His family members also didn't recall making one.

He said the bank teller didn't catch that the payee's name differed from the endorsement. Bank staff subsequently called him. The money was immediately returned to the city, he said.

"I asked the finance director (Pete Gonzalez, who also is deputy city manager) how it would have gotten to me. He had no clue," the mayor said.

Ahumada said he has never been in the finance director's office. "How did that check end up in my account? We have no idea. I don't have the answer," he said. "We need to find out if the finance department was breached, if it was an inadvertent mistake and the check was given to me," he said.

The mayor also said he asked Gonzalez to initiate an investigation into how the city processes and handles checks.

"There are a lot of people handling the checks," Ahumada maintained.

Ahumada said that he had wanted to hold a press conference about the situation, but decided not to pending the investigation and based on police Chief Carlos Garcia's advice.

"We need to know how that check went to someone else and who deposited it," City Manager Charlie Cabler said.

"We referred it to the police department and Hugh Emerson," Cabler said, referring to a Compass Bank official.

Emerson declined to comment, and also cited privacy concerns.

"We are trying to determine if there is any criminal intent," the police chief said.

Gonzalez contacted the police department Nov. 25 about the missing check.

The check dated Oct. 22 was made payable to Tarsia Technical Industries, which provided equipment to the Brownsville Public Library. It was not immediately clear what kind of equipment. City officials said they found out that something was amiss when the vendor called asking for payment.

"The vendor said they never got paid and that is when the bank officials were asked to look and find out who deposited it," Garcia said.

Joseph Tarsia, the president of Tarsia Technical Industries, was not available for comment.