Additional search warrants were executed last week in connection with the state attorney general’s office investigation into a possible vote-harvesting scheme in Frio County.
Additional search warrants were executed last week in connection with the state attorney general’s office investigation into a possible vote-harvesting scheme in Frio County.
According to records obtained by KSAT Investigates, Frio County Commissioners Joe Vela and Raul Carrizales, Pearsall Independent School District board member Mari Benavides and former Pearsall Mayor Petra Davina Trevino had their cellphones seized by the Texas AG’s office.
Among the other people named in the warrants who also surrendered their phones to authorities is Susanna Carrizales, who is Raul’s mother, as well as Carmen Vela, who is Joe’s sister.
In Carmen Vela’s search warrant, she told the state attorney general’s office she harvested votes on behalf of her brother Joe, the Frio County commissioner for Precinct 1, records show.
At this time, no charges have been filed against Benavides, Trevino, Vela, Vela’s sister, Carrizales or Carrizales’ mother.
Frio County sheriff’s deputies arrested five suspects on May 2:
- Pearsall City Council member Ramiro Trevino on one count of vote harvesting
- Pearsall Independent School District board member Adriann Ramirez on three counts of vote harvesting
- Former Frio County Elections Administrator Carlos Segura on one count of tampering with evidence
- Pearsall City Council member Racheal Garza on one count of vote harvesting
- Rosa Rodriguez, who the 81st Judicial District Attorney said is an alleged vote harvester, on two counts of vote harvesting
A sixth suspect, Frio County Judge Rochelle Camacho, was also charged, but she turned herself in to authorities on May 9. She faces three counts of vote harvesting.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct suspended Camacho on May 12 from her position as Frio County Judge, more than a week after a grand jury indicted her in the alleged vote-harvesting scheme.
The vote harvesting and tampering with evidence charges are considered third-degree felonies.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
