A warrant was issued for the arrest of La Grulla Mayor Pedro Flores last month for failure to appear in court, however, the warrant has yet to be executed.
In a bench warrant dated July 13, County Court-at-law Judge Romero Molina directed Starr County Sheriff Rene Orta Fuentes to detain Flores at the Starr County jail “until further orders of this Court are made and entered.”
The warrant stems from his arrest in 2015 on charges of theft by a public servant after Flores allegedly ordered La Grulla firefighters to use one of the city’s fire trucks in order to fill up his swimming pool at his home.
He was arrested in November 2015 but later released on bond.
Flores has been in office since 2009, easily winning reelection in May 2017 while the case was still pending.
The warrant issued last month is the first major development in the case and states Flores failed to appear at a court hearing pertaining to the case Dec. 29, 2015.
However, as of Friday morning, Flores had not been served.
Spokesman for the sheriff’s office, Mjr. Carlos Degaldo, said he currently did not have information on the warrant or the mayor.
The sheriff did not return a request for comment.
“I got a letter that there was a bench warrant for my arrest because apparently I didn’t show up to court in 2015,” Flores said, adding that the reason he didn’t appear was because he was not notified.
“If I would have gotten a letter to show up at court, I would have shown up,” he said. “I didn’t get a letter; I didn’t get a notice; I didn’t get a phone call, nothing.”
