Dear Friends,
County Commissioner Vince Perez of Precinct 3, who is fighting against Iliana Holguin to hold on to his seat, has apparently been fighting another ongoing battle: to keep his driver license.
Incredibly, Mr. Perez has been pulled over by the El Paso Police 18 times since 2006, according to the El Paso Municipal Court database. Nine of those violations were in the last five years alone.
Perez was cited eight times for speeding, once for running a red light, once for running a stop sign, four times for driving while on his cell phone, once for failing to provide proof of insurance, and twice for vehicle registration infractions.
His attorney of choice is Mario Ortiz, who represented him no less than fourteen times.
What is truly astounding is that in all 18 cases, Perez was either found “not guilty” or the charges were dismissed. Ortiz must be one hell of a lawyer!
I would hazard a guess that most El Pasoans who rack up more than a dozen moving violations end up paying fines, losing their driver’s license, or both.
How is it that Perez was able to evade EIGHTEEN separate charges?
And that does not include the municipalities of Socorro, Horizon, Clint or Tornillo, where driving records are not available online. Someone should check with them as well.
Meanwhile, Perez’s handler Jaime Abeytia, who has quite the criminal record, was pulled over January 28 at 11:19pm and fined $292 for failure to maintain financial responsibility, $243 for speeding, and $142 for driving without a valid license. Maybe Perez can lend him his attorney or make a phone call or two…
El Paso deserves better.
Max