Questions Swirl As Arraignment Approaches For Toyah Mayor
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: December 12, 2012
TOYAH -- The mayor of Toyah -- who's accused of defrauding the city out of hundreds of thousands of dollars -- will appear in federal court on December 13th.
Bartolo Sanchez is set to be arraigned on federal bank fraud, wire fraud and identity theft (4 counts) charges in Midland at 2 PM on December 13th.
If convicted on all counts, Sanchez could face up to 58 years in federal prison.
Federal investigators say that Sanchez -- who has served as the Mayor of Toyah since May 22, 2006 -- wrote a secret settlement agreement with Chesapeake Operating, Inc. on May 14, 2009.
The $228,132.54 settlement -- which was reportedly drafted by Sanchez unbeknownst to the Toyah City Council -- was supposedly set up to fund repairs of Toyah streets that had been damaged by Chesapeake Operating vehicles.
The money from the settlement reportedly went into a new Toyah bank account that Sanchez set up himself.
However, United States attorneys claim that Sanchez reportedly wrote checks to himself from that account and several other Toyah bank accounts to fund his personal business.
Sanchez also is accused of writing bogus mileage reimbursement forms to bilk the city out of more money.
As mayor of the 30 resident city of Toyah (which comprises all of 1.6 square miles), Sanchez had signatory authority on all city bank accounts.
However, a second signature was required on checks involving city money.
In order to keep the Toyah City Council from finding out about the fraud, Sanchez reportedly forged the required second signature on the checks.
Meanwhile, residents say that the arrest is shedding light on alleged corruption throughout the Toyah city government.
A town hall meeting to discuss the structure of Toyah's government was abruptly cancelled on December 11th.
Meanwhile, officials in Toyah and Reeves County have repeatedly refused to tell Big 2 whether Sanchez will remain as mayor in Toyah or not.
While Big 2 has asked for more information on both Sanchez's status as mayor and possible changes to the structure of Toyah government in the wake of the scandal, officials have either ignored our calls or cited scheduled appearances at toy drives as the reason for abrupt cancellations of meetings and office time.
Bartolo Sanchez is set to be arraigned on federal bank fraud, wire fraud and identity theft (4 counts) charges in Midland at 2 PM on December 13th.
If convicted on all counts, Sanchez could face up to 58 years in federal prison.
Federal investigators say that Sanchez -- who has served as the Mayor of Toyah since May 22, 2006 -- wrote a secret settlement agreement with Chesapeake Operating, Inc. on May 14, 2009.
The $228,132.54 settlement -- which was reportedly drafted by Sanchez unbeknownst to the Toyah City Council -- was supposedly set up to fund repairs of Toyah streets that had been damaged by Chesapeake Operating vehicles.
The money from the settlement reportedly went into a new Toyah bank account that Sanchez set up himself.
However, United States attorneys claim that Sanchez reportedly wrote checks to himself from that account and several other Toyah bank accounts to fund his personal business.
Sanchez also is accused of writing bogus mileage reimbursement forms to bilk the city out of more money.
As mayor of the 30 resident city of Toyah (which comprises all of 1.6 square miles), Sanchez had signatory authority on all city bank accounts.
However, a second signature was required on checks involving city money.
In order to keep the Toyah City Council from finding out about the fraud, Sanchez reportedly forged the required second signature on the checks.
Meanwhile, residents say that the arrest is shedding light on alleged corruption throughout the Toyah city government.
A town hall meeting to discuss the structure of Toyah's government was abruptly cancelled on December 11th.
Meanwhile, officials in Toyah and Reeves County have repeatedly refused to tell Big 2 whether Sanchez will remain as mayor in Toyah or not.
While Big 2 has asked for more information on both Sanchez's status as mayor and possible changes to the structure of Toyah government in the wake of the scandal, officials have either ignored our calls or cited scheduled appearances at toy drives as the reason for abrupt cancellations of meetings and office time.
