If you’re pulling some kind of a workplace scam it’s probably best you show up every day to make sure your plan stays under the radar.

A former Rio Grande Valley detention center employee is going to prison for 50 years for stealing 1.2 million dollars worth of fajitas after his scheme was discovered on his day off.

Gilberto Escamilla handled food deliveries for a Brownsville, Texas juvenile detention center. For nine years Escamilla had hundreds of pounds of beef skirt delivered on a pretty regular basis, which he would then sell elsewhere and pocket the cash.

His almost decade-long scam unraveled last August after he took a day off for a doctor’s appointment.

While he was out, the kitchen got a call from the food company they work with letting them know their delivery of 800 pounds of fajitas had arrived. Of course, the person handling things in Gilberto’s absence didn't know what they were talking about since the kitchen didn't ever serve their inmates fajitas. But the delivery guy insisted he'd been delivering 'jitas there for years.

With his scheme was discovered, Escamilla was promptly fired and arrested soon after that.

Cameron County DA
Cameron County DA
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According to the Brownsville Herald, when police followed the paper trail they determined he'd stolen more than $1.2 million worth of fajitas over nine years. And that figure doesn't include the brisket, pork chops, sausage and chicken he also admitted to stealing.

Cameron County prosecutors asked the judge for the 50-year-sentence because Escamilla was a public servant and they wanted to send a strong message to other public servants contemplating stealing taxpayer money. He's 53, so the 5-decades-sentence is pretty much a life sentence.

I think we can all agree fajitas are good -- just not 50 years in prison good.

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