MCISD Trustee Faces Theft Charges
Irma Patricia “Patty” Bazaldua, vice president of the Mission CISD school board, was arrested Monday afternoon.
According to a Mission Police spokesman, Bazaldua has been charged with two counts of theft and two counts of forgery.
Bazaldua, an entrepreneur, was elected to office in 2008.
Mission Consolidated Independent School District released a statement Monday night emphasizing that Patricia Bazaldua is not an employee of the district.
“Therefore, any criminal charges filed against her are a matter for the full board to address once a final determination is made regarding allegations or charges against Ms. Bazaldua,” reads the statement. “Mission CISD will continue to focus on providing its students with educational opportunities in order to prepare them for college and careers.”
Bazaldua’s in-laws, Mario Bazaldua Sr., and her sister-in-law, Michelle Bazaldua Peugh, filed complaints against Patricia Bazaldua in June and July. Patricia Bazaldua’s sister-in-law first met with Mission police investigators in June and stated she was approached by an insurance agent in April 2012 who asked her to verify a signature on an application for a $5,000 loan on her policy, according to a probable cause statement.
Peugh said she didn’t know anything about it, and the agent came to her workplace to show her the application. According to her affidavit, Peugh recognized the handwriting and suspected Patricia Bazaldua, but Peugh didn’t do anything because the money was not paid out to anyone.
Then, in May of this year, Peugh received a call from her mother, stating that Patricia Bazaldua had taken out a $5,000 loan in August 2012, she stated in her affidavit. She called the insurance company, requested a copy of the application and found someone forged her and her husband’s names, the affidavit states. The check had been mailed to her parents’ address, and Peugh said Patricia Bazaldua lived next door at the time and always got the mail.
Two days after Peugh received the call from her mother, Mario Bazaldua Jr. found a folder at Patricia Bazaldua’s place of business when he went to look for speakers, according to Peugh’s affidavit.The affidavit states while Mario Bazaldua Jr. was at the office, he saw several notices for delinquent accounts and found a folder inside the desk with Peugh’s application for the life insurance loan and a blank paper where it appeared Patricia Bazaldua had been practicing Peugh’s signature. Also inside the folder was the Peugh’s application to work at Mission CISD, the affidavit states.
In the probable cause statement, the investigator states he found Patricia Bazaldua deposited a $5,000 check made out to Maribel Bazaldua in August 2012.
A separate probable cause statement signed Sept. 16, accuses Patricia Bazaldua of obtaining a credit card using information for Mario Bazaldua Sr. He found out in July when he received a collection notice notifying him of an outstanding balance for an account he never authorized. A few days after making his first complaint to police, Mario Bazaldua Sr. provided a sworn statement that Patricia Bazaldua sold him an annuity with Woodmen of the World, and he had deposited $15,000. Several times, he told police, Patricia Bazaldua had him sign paperwork, telling him they were standard forms to keep his policy active, but he couldn’t read them because he cannot read English.
Mario Bazaldua Sr. told police there were two withdrawals from his annuity without his permission. Investigators found two checks made out to Mario Bazaldua Sr. and deposited in Patricia Bazaldua’s account, one for $3,320 and a second for $3,279.
Patricia Bazaldua was issued a $5,000 bond for each of the two theft counts and a $2,500 bond for each of the two forgery counts.
