Edcouch city manager suspended, alderman no-shows after fed charges

EDCOUCH — The fallout continues here after two high-level city officials appeared in federal court on public corruption charges this week.

Edcouch City Manager Victor Hugo de la Cruz has been suspended with pay after federal agents took him into custody on four felony counts, including federal programs bribery, Edcouch Mayor Virginio “Virgil” Gonzalez Jr. confirmed.

Meanwhile, Place 1 Alderman Rene A. Flores, who also stands accused in the scheme, failed to show up for an Edcouch City Council meeting Thursday evening.

It remains unclear why Flores was absent from the meeting; however, as part of the conditions for his release on bond, the judge admonished Flores to refrain from contact with any victims, witnesses or potential co-conspirators.

With two other aldermen also absent, the council was unable to reach quorum and subsequently could not deliberate any of the items listed on Thursday’s agenda, including de la Cruz’s continued employment with the city.

One alderman was absent due to being out of town for work, while another had a school function, the mayor said.

The council was also set to approve Edcouch’s fiscal budget and property tax rate, which, by statute, must be approved before the end of September.

“In this situation, the thing that’s most important is to have board action. Unfortunately, we don’t have a quorum today; that’ll be taken care of Monday, I hope,” Edcouch City Attorney Roel Gutierrez said after the mayor canceled the meeting.

Flores and the city manager allegedly participated in a kickback scheme with a Brownsville-based marketing firm called Pink Ape Media, which is owned and operated by a Mexican national named Rodrigo Moreno-Fernandez.

Pink Ape designed the city’s website sometime in 2018, according to a copyright mark listed at the bottom of the website.

But federal prosecutors allege Pink Ape was involved in more than that.

They allege that de la Cruz and Flores agreed to secure a contract between the city and Pink Ape in the summer of 2019. In exchange, Pink Ape would pay them kickbacks.

The indictment against the two men claims that Edcouch paid Pink Ape a total of $6,000 between June and September 2019, and that the marketing company, in turn, paid Flores a total of $2,000.

De la Cruz allegedly facilitated the communications.

The Monitor obtained copies of two subpoenas that federal agents have served on the city this year.

The first, dated March 12, demanded records related to the city’s accounts, vendors, customers and employees. It also demanded the city’s check register, its journal entries and its general ledger.

The city received another subpoena for records on Sept. 2.

This time, the feds sought out records directly related to Pink Ape.

“Any and all records in your possession, custody, or control to include but not limited to Documents related to any agreements, contracts, payments or business with Mink Ape Media LLC or Rodrigo Moreno,” the subpoena states, in part.

The subpoena also demanded records of the city’s communications with Pink Ape or Moreno, as well as city meeting minutes involving the company or marketing contracts.

Ten days after serving the subpoena on Edcouch, agents arrested de la Cruz and Flores in Weslaco, court records show.

This isn’t the first time that federal agents have descended upon the Delta. Indeed, it now appears that there are at least two federal investigations into the tiny town.

Last October, the FBI conducted a raid of Edcouch City Hall. Just one week later, agents with Homeland Security Investigations conducted a similar raid next door on Elsa City Hall, as well as two former gambling establishments in the two towns.

Both of those October 2023 raids appear to be related to 8-liner businesses, and gambling ordinances the two cities had approved to ostensibly regulate legal gambling.

On the same day the FBI raided Edcouch City Hall, agents also paid early morning visits to de la Cruz at his Weslaco home, as well as to then-Assistant City Manager Ernesto “Ernie” Rosales.

De la Cruz initially suspended Rosales, who is no longer employed by the city.

While de la Cruz remains suspended, his duties as city manager will be borne by City Secretary Marisela Aguilar and the mayor, Gutierrez, the city attorney, said.

Meanwhile, Edcouch officials hope to assure residents that business will continue unaffected at city offices.

“The message is this: Although there are circumstances that negatively affect the city, the city will always be here for its citizens, No. 1,” Gutierrez said.

“Obviously, there is some concern. We’ve assured (residents) that city functions will continue. The integrity is there. If these two individuals did anything, I mean, by no means is it a reflection of the board,” the mayor said.

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