The CEO of a South Texas migrant children’s shelter who’s facing embezzlement and theft charges will remain in custody until his next hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 7, federal court documents reflect.
Ruben Gallegos Jr., the chief executive officer of International Education Services, or IES, appeared Friday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan, who ordered that he be held without bond.
A federal grand jury on Aug. 30 handed down an indictment charging Gallegos on the embezzlement and theft charges.
Gallegos was taken into custody Thursday after a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest, federal court documents show. He was to be held on no bond.
Count one of the indictment charges Gallegos with conspiracy and count two charges him with theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
IES contracted with the Unaccompanied Alien Children Program and provided temporary shelter care and other related services to unaccompanied alien children, according to the federal indictment. IES received almost all of its funding in the form of federal grants, and for each fiscal year from 2014 through 2018, it received millions of dollars in federal grant funds.
As previously reported and according to the partially unsealed federal indictment, from 2014 through 2018, Gallegos conspired with another unnamed person to “embezzle, steal, obtain by fraud knowingly convert without authority, and intentionally misapply property that is valued at $5,000 U.S. dollars or more, and is owned by, or is under the care, custody, or control of, an organization that receives more than $10,000 U.S. dollars in federal assistance in any one year period.”
The indictment reads that from 2014 to 2017, Gallegos and another unnamed person caused IES to use federal grant funds to pay themselves salaries that were hundreds of thousands of dollars above the salary cap imposed by federal regulations.
In addition, Gallegos and others used IES federal grant funds to lease properties from themselves and others, “at rates in excess of the limits imposed by federal regulations,” authorities said.
The federal government is seeking to seize multiple properties on Maverick Road that are owned by Gallegos, the federal indictment reads.
The government did not renew funding for IES in 2018, forcing it to close.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
CEO of migrant children shelter indicted on embezzlement charges
Audit leads to closure of IES: Migrant shelter under scrutiny of government
Senators seek info on ORR grantees; ‘Allegations raise serious questions’
