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A South Texas jury on Friday acquitted Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre Jr. of bribery and abuse of official capacity charges.
After two days of deliberations, the jury in Nueces County found Yzaguirre not guilty on eight counts of bribery, six counts of abuse of official capacity and one count of official oppression.
A day before, the jury had been unable to reach a decision on the official oppression charge. Senior State District Judge Manuel Banales released the jurors, advising them to be prepared to deliver a verdict on Friday.
Yzaguirre and three tax office employees were arrested in January 2016 on allegations they had issued fake vehicle registrations in exchange for cash.
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Texas Rangers began investigating Yzaguirre after a confidential informant alleged that he had met with the tax-assessor collector to register three vehicles to three different people and addresses.
The informant allegedly paid to register the vehicles, then placed $300 in an envelope for Yzaguirre, according to court documents. The informant told the Texas Rangers that when there was a problem with a vehicle registration the informant could arrange to meet with Yzaguirre for a fee of $100 per vehicle, an affidavit shows.
During an undercover investigation dubbed “Operation Dirty Deeds,” another confidential informant paid Yzaguirre to register two vehicles without identification documents because the persons seeking to register the vehicles do not exist, an affidavit alleged.
But an investigator with the District Attorney’s Office in Cameron County could not trace any ill-gotten proceeds to Yzaguirre’s bank accounts.
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Yzaguirre was reelected in November, prevailing over two write-in candidates with 75 percent of the vote. After staying away from the office while the criminal case was pending, Yzaguirre said he was eager to return to work.
anelsen@express-news.net
Twitter: @amnelsen
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