TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — A Travis County grand jury issued a scathing three-page report aimed at operations and lack of supervision at the Travis County Tax Collector’s office.
The report comes after the indictment of several Travis County Tax Collector’s office employees in June and cites management lapses and a “pervasive culture” that allowed fraud to happen.
The report stated that the grand jury was "greatly alarmed" by the lack of supervision and “willful dereliction of duty,” which allowed the fraud and theft to occur.
Evidence presented to the grand jury showed that the Travis County Tax Office supervisors "appeared to encourage employees to accept or ignore questionable documents presented to them for processing," according to the special report. The report states that the supervisors encouraged their employees to process the paper work despite any "red flags." Authorities said they have yet to determine whether this action was intended to be criminal or was perhaps for the sake of reducing long lines at the Travis County Tax Office.
However, the grand jury concluded -- based on evidence provided to them in the report -- that the Travis County Tax Office facilitated the theft of potentially millions of dollars of tax revenue which was due to the State of Texas.
"While the TC Tax office and its supervisory staff may be unwitting facilitators in this theft, they are no less responsible for the financial burden this theft places on the state, Travis County and more importantly, the citizens of Travis County, should this dereliction of duty result in increased taxes for its citizens," the report stated.
During the multi-agency operation, the following people were arrested and booked into the Travis County Jail:
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- Shell Kenneth Prieto-Reese, 43: Engaging in organized crime
- Cathy Lynn Wilson, 57: Engaging in organized crime
- Susie Alvarez Araujo, 43: Forgery
- Steven Hernandez, 35: Forgery
- Hipolita Tiquet De Dios, 41: Bribery
- Cecil Leary, Jr., 61: Engaging in organized crime
- Eulalio Hernandez, 72: Forgery
Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant released the following statement:
“I have great respect for the grand jury and understand that this is a serious issue. I take responsibility and am fully committed to making sure this never happens again.
I embrace the recommendations made by the grand jury, and my office has already taken a number of actions to increase oversight, provide additional training and implement best practices. We will continue to work with the Travis County Auditor, and we have hired an outside, independent expert, Monica Blackwell, one of the most experienced and respected title managers in Texas. We are confident that she can successfully lead our motor vehicle team.
We will be calling on Travis County Commissioners to begin public hearings as recommended. Our goal is to rebuild the public trust and meet the needs of our customers. We will continue to work closely with the county attorney, along with the county auditor and others, to restore confidence in the tax office.”