A candidate for sheriff in South Texas allegedly embezzled more than $1 million from his family, his relatives claimed. The candidate reportedly used companies in Nicaragua to move funds between and from his security company in South Texas, a statement and an audit provided by the family revealed.
The revelations came when the brothers of Francisco “Frank” Guerrero released a public statement against their brother and openly supported current Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra, who is running for reelection and is facing off against Guerrero in a primary race.
According to a signed statement by Guerrero’s brothers, Abelardo, Ricardo, and Raymond, they claim that shortly after their father suffered a stroke in 2019, Frank took advantage of the family to funnel more than a million dollars of his father’s savings.
According to CBS4, the issue first came to light during a local political debate where Frank Guerrero, on his part, has accused the incumbent sheriff of corruption, claiming the sheriff has given large contracts to friends and political supporters. However, Guerra’s campaign, along with the Guerrero brothers, distributed the document accusing him of embezzlement in which the brothers called him a “scam artist.”
“He (Frank) did so in a manner that we as a family would never have thought possible,” the brothers claimed in their statement. “He used our trust to his benefit to facilitate the embezzling of funds — funds which were part of a lifetime of our father’s hard work.”
“In just a few short years, Frank fraudulently withdrew funds which were to be used for our now handicapped father’s medical expenses,” the statement continued.
Breitbart Texas reached out to the Guerrero family, who confirmed the information in the statement and provided a copy of an audit conducted by a Nicaraguan accounting firm that revealed that Frank allegedly used a Nicaraguan electrical supply company called Edison SA to coordinate the movement of funds with his own company security companies called Valley Metro Group and G-Force Security. The Guerrero family has relatives and business histories in South Texas, Nicaragua, and Miami.
According to the audit, Frank Guerrero was listed as the top executive of Edison, and the audit was done to find financial irregularities within that company.
In response to the allegations, Frank Guerrero claimed it was baseless mudslinging by his political rival. He posted a video on Facebook where he appeared with his mother, addressing the issue. In the video, Doris Guerrero claimed that the allegations were baseless and part of a family dispute and that she was upset that it was being used in politics.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.