A recently filed lawsuit calls for the removal of Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra, alleging he accepted a stipend for duties he did not perform.
Plaintiff Nathan Kaspar alleges that Becerra accepted two stipends of $25,000 each to perform judicial functions, although there are no records of documents to show that work was done.
The lawsuit filed Monday in a Hays County District Court states Becerra received $50,000 between 2019 and 2020 after filing affidavits with the Texas Comptroller’s Office swearing at least 40% of his duties would be judicial functions.
An administrator for Hays County Courts at Law 1, 2 and 3, however, testified that Becerra has never presided over any docket at the Hays County Courts at Law Level.
The lawsuit calls “official misconduct” and “incompetencey” into question as the basis for Becerra to be removed from office immediately.
“Either in a lack of ethics or competency, he is not qualified to serve as county judge,” Kaspar said.
Kaspar suspected that Becerra was not holding a docket while conducting a financial audit of the county court system around all the recent discussion about creating a Public Defender Office.
“There is a lot of talk of access to justice here lately and how there is a backlog in the courts and jail,” Kaspar said. “Judge Becerra isn’t doing anything but running around campaigning for a public defender office. It’s the height of hypocrisy to be going to taxpayers to say we need a Public Defender Office when he is already taking a salary to act as a judge in court to alleviate some of that backlog.”
In contrast, records show former Hays County Judge Bert Cobb performed magistration for 209 cases between 2014 and 2017 under the same Texas Government Code section describing the Judicial Functions Salary.
A statement issued on behalf of Becerra through the Pastrano Law Firm calls the lawsuit baseless.
"In conjunction with the General Counsel for Hays County and the Texas Association of Counties, we will put together a team that will work to put this nonsense to rest so that Judge Becerra can continue his work on behalf of Hays County without these distractions,” the statement said.
Becerra’s representation E. Chevo Pastrano refers to the lawsuit as a smear campaign, to which Kaspar responded, “Everyone Republican and Democrat should be mad about this. I would hope that people would look past partisanship and look toward financial responsibility. We are a very fast growing county, our tax base is slow to catch up with the needs of the county. So we cannot tolerate wasteful and fraudulent spending out of the county or state budget. Our public officials have to be held to an incredibly high standard. Putting money directly into their own pocket is incredibly disqualifying.”
This lawsuit is not the first sign of criminal allegations against Becerra. On Sept. 16, 2019, Criminal District Attorney Wes Mau filed a motion to recuse himself for allegations of criminal activity by Becerra that may result in criminal charges being investigated and possibly prosecuted.
Mau also filed a motion to recuse himself on April 14, 2020 for matters related to the arrest of Paul Gullo, who was arrested on April 3 for engaging in a deceptive business practice. Gullo, an alleged MD Box employee was seen wearing an MD Box hat and claimed he was authorized to provide Hays County with COVID-19 tests and claimed he was working with Becerra and his chief of staff Alex Villalobos, although there has never been any action taken in commissioners court to authorize a partnership.
Described in a Search Warrant Affidavit from the arrest, Kyle Police Department’s Officer Matthew Leathers saw in Gullo’s cell phone an Emergency Use Authorization written in Hays County letterhead that read, “This letter is to express the immediate allowance of an FDA exemption and Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) for Relient Immune Diagnostics, Inc. to provide in-home diagnostic tests for Strep, Flu, Urinary Tract Infections, and Covid-19 in the context of a machine vision telemedicine solution to ensure patient outcome monitoring.”
Becerra has since said there was never an intention to provide in-home COVID-19 tests.
The lawsuit filed Monday also alleges criminal misconduct by tampering with or falsifying a governmental record or making a false statement under oath.
If Becerra is issued a citation, Mau will either submit a recusal order or represent the state in the proceedings for Becerra’s removal.
