Former Edcouch city manager sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in prison

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Former Edcouch City Manager Victor Hugo De La Cruz, who solicited kickbacks from a marketing consultant, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Thursday.

De La Cruz solicited two $1,000 kickbacks from Pink Ape Media Consulting, a Brownsville-based company that provided Edcouch with marketing services.

“This is, to me, just a classic pay-to-play scheme,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane.

Victor Hugo De La Cruz, 58, of Weslaco is well known in Hidalgo County.

De La Cruz hosted a high school football call-in show, served on the Edcouch-Elsa school board and presided over the Progreso Municipal Court. He also mounted unsuccessful campaigns for justice of the peace and the Weslaco school board.

At some point, De La Cruz started working for Pink Ape Media Consulting.

Rodrigo Moreno Fernandez, a graphic designer from Matamoros, created Pink Ape in 2013, according to documents filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

The company provided clients with a wide array of media services — everything from market research to TV commercials. Pink Ape also worked on political campaigns in Cameron County.

Moreno, however, had no legal status in the United States. The FBI approached him with a solution.

“So they told me that we noticed that you are involved with a lot of political campaigns, that — that you don’t have papers, so we can talk — we can help you not — not get deported, there’s a status called deferred action, if you help us,” Moreno said in 2020, when he testified against Brownsville school board Trustee Sylvia P. Atkinson, according to the trial transcript. “If you — if you give us information that — that can help in any investigation.”

De La Cruz apparently didn’t know his boss worked for the FBI.

In 2018, when Edcouch needed a city manager, De La Cruz decided to apply.

De La Cruz said his marketing experience made him an excellent fit for Edcouch.

“I enjoy dealing with people and work well under pressure,” De La Cruz wrote in his cover letter, which Edcouch released under the Texas Public Information Act. “I know the area of the Rio Grande Valley and understand the community as it pertains to administration.”

Edcouch hired De La Cruz on Jan. 9, 2019. Less than a month later, Edcouch hired Pink Ape.

In exchange for $7,500, the company agreed to create a new website for Edcouch, set up email accounts and take photos.

The kickbacks started in July, according to the indictment, when De La Cruz and Edcouch Mayor Pro-Tem Rene Flores met with “Person 1,” who owned Pink Ape.

Documents filed by prosecutors don’t identify Person 1 by name, but that person is clearly Moreno.

During the meeting, they agreed Edcouch would award business to Pink Ape in exchange for kickbacks.

Pink Ape sent Edcouch a bill for “Marketing Consulting,” according to documents released under the Public Information Act. Edcouch paid the company $3,000.

On July 15, four days after Edcouch cut the check, De La Cruz told Person 1 that Flores was “expecting his payment,” according to the indictment.

Person 1 paid $1,000 to Flores.

Pink Ape sent Edcouch another bill in September.

Once again, Edcouch paid the company $3,000, according to the indictment. And, once again, Person 1 paid $1,000 to Flores.

The FBI, though, didn’t arrest De La Cruz and Flores until September 2024 — nearly five years after the second kickback.

Flores didn’t put up a fight. He pleaded guilty, cooperated against De La Cruz and received one year and one day in prison.

De La Cruz pleaded guilty in May. He returned to court Thursday morning wearing a blue suit, a white shirt and black shoes.

“I’m here to assume and accept responsibility,” De La Cruz said. “And be accountable for this situation.”

After serving on the Edcouch-Elsa school board, De La Cruz said he accepted the job at City Hall to get away from politics.

De La Cruz said the Edcouch Board of Aldermen was supposed to set policy and make big-picture decisions while he managed day-to-day operations. In reality, other city officials showed up at his office every day.

“It was eye-opening for me,” De La Cruz said.

The kickback scheme emerged from that environment.

“I’m embarassed that I allowed myself to be bullied,” De La Cruz said. “Or fall into peer pressure.”

Attorney Santos Maldonado of Edinburg, who represented De La Cruz, said his client didn’t actually keep any money.

Maldonado compared the kickback payments to campaign contributions and suggested the quid pro quo was not as explicit as prosecutors claimed.

“But he’s the city person,” said Crane, the federal judge. “Without him, there is no corruption.”

While he didn’t keep the cash, De La Cruz did benefit from the kickback scheme, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Johnson, the federal prosecutor.

De La Cruz was “happy to keep his job,” Johnson said.

They also discussed why the government waited nearly five years to arrest De La Cruz.

Johnson said the case against De La Cruz was linked to other investigations, which remained ongoing.

“We asked him about other things,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to get into that.”

Federal agents who questioned De La Cruz about the other investigations didn’t think he was completely truthful, Johnson said. Maldonado pushed back, saying that De La Cruz had been up-front with federal agents since the beginning.

After listening to De La Cruz and the lawyers, Crane concluded that Flores, the mayor pro-tem, was a bigger player in the conspiracy.

“Clearly Mr. De La Cruz was the minor participant,” Crane said.

Crane sentenced De La Cruz to one year and one day in prison followed by three years on supervised release.

De La Cruz is scheduled to self-surrender on Aug. 22.