A woman pleading guilty to conducting a COVID-19-related scam and another woman accused of calling her ex-boyfriend nearly 90 times over several hours highlight a week of arrests and court proceedings in El Paso.
Here is a look at recent crime and court developments in El Paso and the Borderland:
El Paso tax, home care business owner pleads guilty to $2 million COVID-19 fraud
Araceli Benitez, 47, pleaded guilty to two counts in connection with defrauding small businesses seeking help filing for Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin R. Simmons announced in a news release.
Benitez, who owned and operated Garaas Insurance Tax Services and Ashley Home Care Services in El Paso, helped various other businesses obtain Paycheck Protection
Program loans from the federal government.
The Paycheck Protection Program provides small businesses with the resources they need to maintain payroll, rehire employees who may have been laid off, and cover applicable overhead, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's website states. The program was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Benitez charged her clients a percentage of the loans they received in exchange for helping the businesses obtain loans through the federal program.
In at least one instance, Benitez received income tax information from a client for a loan application, prepared it and filed a false federal document that had different figures than what the client provided, the news release states. The document did not include the client’s signature. Benitez also forged her client's signature on the loan application without the client reviewing it.
Benitez charged the client $6,000 for preparing the loan application. She deposited the funds into Garaas Insurance Tax Services' bank account.
She also provided false information to the IRS on an Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return. She filed the form in July 2022, claiming to have paid several employees higher wages than she had actually paid, the news release states. Benitez received a tax refund of $52,267.92 as a result of the false information.
The news release states the fraud totaled more than $2 million, but court records do not include information on how many victims and how much money was taken from each.
Benitez pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims to the IRS. She entered her guilty plea during a Wednesday, Sept. 23, hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert F. Castañeda at the Albert Armendariz Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Downtown El Paso.
A sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 17. She faces up to 30 years in prison on the wire fraud charge and up to five years for the false claim.
El Paso woman allegedly called ex-dating partner nearly 90 times
Horizon City Police Department officers arrested Jessica Marie Mendoza, 22, on suspicion of harassment after she allegedly called a "former dating partner" 86 times over several hours, police spokeswoman Officer Carolyn Morales said in a news release.
Officers began investigating the case after the former dating partner reported receiving about 86 telephone calls over several hours, beginning late Sept. 12 and continuing into the early morning hours of Sept. 13, the news release states.
Mendoza also allegedly sent multiple voicemails, some of which allegedly contained threats concerning the ex-dating partner's property, and emailed threats, the news release states.
Officers obtained an arrest warrant. Mendoza voluntarily turned herself in to the Horizon City Police Department after being contacted by an investigating officer, the news release states.
She was booked into the El Paso County jail Sept. 18 on a $2,000 bond. She was released from jail after posting bail the same day.
Man arrested in NM I-10 bus crash near El Paso
Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a person allegedly responsible for causing a bus to crash on Interstate 10 heading to El Paso, sheriff's spokeswoman Ariana Parra said in a news release.
The person, whose name has not been released, caused a "disturbance with the bus driver" before 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24, as the bus was driving on Interstate 10 near Mesquite, New Mexico, south of Las Cruces, the news release states.
The disturbance allegedly caused the bus driver to lose control, causing it to crash into the median. The suspect ran away from the crash but was later arrested by Doña Ana County deputies.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: COVID fraud, harassment, bus crash: El Paso's week in crime
