Posted on 08/13/2026 9:43:19 PM PDT by Red Badger
Five current and former Refugio, Texas, city officials were arrested on Wednesday for fraud after they allegedly mishandled hundreds of thousands of dollars that spanned 19 transactions.
Refugio Mayor Wanda Dukes was charged with misapplication of fiduciary property, a first-degree felony, for misusing funds from the Refugio Economic Development Corporation between October 2023 and October 2025.
City Secretary Callie Shreckengost was also charged with misapplication of fiduciary property.
Current City Council Ixtlazihuatl Vasquez, former City Council Frank Hosey, and former City Council Michael Rocha were all hit with third-degree felony charges of abuse of official capacity.
According to the indictment, the state claimed that more than $1 million was misapplied to payments, audit services, garbage collection, and festivals.
KRIS TV reported:
Five current and former Refugio town officials face felony charges after a Refugio County grand jury returned indictments this week following a Texas Rangers investigation.
Mayor Wanda Huff Dukes and Town Secretary Callie Gray Shreckengost turned themselves in at the Refugio County Jail on Wednesday and were later released. Both are charged with misapplication of fiduciary property, a first-degree felony. Bond for each was set at $25,000.
The indictments accuse both officials of misusing funds from the Refugio Economic Development Corporation between Oct. 3, 2023, and Oct. 29, 2025. According to the charging documents, Dukes exercised control over EDC funds as mayor, while Shreckengost had authority to authorize and sign disbursements as town secretary.
The indictments list 19 transactions totaling more than $1 million that the state says were misapplied, including payments for windstorm insurance, garbage collection, water main maintenance, audit services, a police department holiday event and Fourth of July festivals.
Hi Red. I’m certain some form of this type of grift is going on in 95% of the cities in this country. I call for the Feds to get really serious about flushing out the criminals doing similar in Orange County Florida! Then do Tallahassee!
Small towns are the worst, think Dukes of Hazzard and Boss Hogg and the corrupt sheriff..........
When you don’t see “republican” in the first sentence, you know it’s democrfats
Straight out of Central Casting.
Yep Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
And ever since this land tagged USA has been
invaded by foreigners. The natives were placed
upon land called reservations as their home land.
Today they keep coming via boat/plane/etc and
wade across the Rio Grande into Texas. The USA
keeps a rising population with new comers legal
or not. jmo.
They look like 60s Batman villains.
They probably were in the 60’s...............
Amateurs. You'd be laughed out of office in New Jersey if that is all you can steal.
Aztec-American, you GD RACIST, LOL!
It was their ‘first time’......... 😏🙄
COMBINED IQ—UNDER 500
You’re being too generous..................😉
South Texas towns have always been a hotbed of corruption.
Box 13 in Jim Wells County was the fraudulent catalyst that got LBJ started in politics.
One million dollars is probably the annual budget in Refugio.
So actually they did OK. Until they got caught.
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