Former Edcouch city manager pleads guilty to kickback scheme

The former Edcouch city manager accused of plotting a kickback scheme alongside the city’s former alderman pleaded guilty on Thursday.

Victor Hugo De La Cruz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States following former Edcouch Place 1 Alderman Rene Adan Flores’ guilty plea to a similar charge in January, according to court documents.

The two were arrested back in September on bribery charges involving a kickback scheme where they would obtain money from a private business in Brownsville, namely Pink Ape Media, which is owned and operated by a Mexican national named Rodrigo Moreno-Fernandez, in exchange for steering Edcouch to awarding the business with a marketing contract.

According to the indictment, the business owner met with the duo on or about July 9, 2019, where they agreed to this exchange.

On or around July 11, 2019, the city of Edcouch issued Pink Ape Media a $3,000 check. Then a few days later, around July 15, 2019, De La Cruz met with Moreno-Fernandez and told him that Flores was expecting his payment, the indictment states.

This happened again in September of that year after the city of Edcouch awarded the business another $3,000 check.

The indictment goes on to say that Moreno-Fernandez paid Flores $1,000 twice, once in July and again in late September.

Flores is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3 while De La Cruz’s sentencing is scheduled for July 10, court records show.

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