The case of a fajita bandit who admitted stealing thousands of pounds of the Mexican delicacy is a wrap.
Gilberto Escamilla pleaded guilty in a Texas courtroom Friday to theft by a public servant. The plea came after authorities accused Escamilla of stealing $1.2 million worth of fajitas over nine years while working at a Cameron County juvenile detention center.
“I feel horrible,” Escamilla said in court, according to The Brownsville Herald. “I wish I could take this back. It was selfish. It started small and got bigger and out of control. It got to a point where I couldn’t control it anymore.”
Escamilla was arrested in August, after it was discovered he’d been intercepting truckloads of fajitas that he ordered through the juvenile center. He was reportedly taking the food and delivering it to his own customers.
During Friday’s hearing, Assistant District Attorney Peter Gilman asked State District Judge J. Manuel Banales to make an example of Escamilla, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Banales responded in kind and sentenced Escamilla to a whopping 50 years behind bars. For 53-year-old Escamilla, the sentence might as well have been the death penalty.
“If it wasn’t so serious, you’d think it was a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit,” Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz told the Brownsville Herald.
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