Texas mayor arrested on insurance fraud charge

The mayor of an El Paso County city has been arrested on a charge of insurance fraud – over a case that allegedly occurred before her election last year.

Isela Reyes, 41, the mayor of San Elizario, was accused of filing a fraudulent insurance claim – with a value between $2,500 and $30,000 – in March of last year. She was sworn into office just months later in May.

She was arrested by El Paso County sheriff’s detectives who were assigned to the FBI West Texas Border Corruption Task Force. El Paso Times reported that while the alleged fraud happened before Reyes was elected mayor, the FBI task force was involved in the investigation as she is currently serving as a public official.

Reyes was booked in El Paso County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

In other fraud-related news, former Amtrak employee Lizette Berrios Lathon recently pleaded guilty to conspiring with her husband to steal almost $1 million in COVID-19-related unemployment insurance benefits and for dishonestly obtaining more than $63,000 in sickness benefits.