El Paso Police Officer and 2 Supervisors Reprimanded Following Bogus Report

An El Paso police officer and two police department supervisors are reprimanded following their parts in a fraudulent accident report involving then State Rep. Donald “Dee” Margo.

Officer Alberto Machorro and the two unnamed supervisors were given verbal reprimands at the conclusion of an internal investigation into the fraudulent report, EPPD spokesman Sargeant Chris Mears said.

In the expanded police report obtained by the ABC7 I-Team, dated Sept. 7, 2012, Machorro states Margo deliberately struck his personal vehicle then fled the scene.

That report was declared unfounded by Officer D. Perea with the special traffic investigation unit, after he “learned of several inconsistencies in [the] report.”

Margo denied the account and said he had no idea a report had been filed. Margo has said Machorro cut him off in traffic on Osborne Drive in West El Paso.

Margo said he bumped the policeman’s personal vehicle but neither car left with any noticeable damage. He said information was not exchanged because they both agreed no damage had been caused.

Margo claims he did not know a report had been filed until he had been alerted by an individual with the city manager’s office, who had seen a freedom-of-information request, demanding information on the alleged crash.

The request had been made by Miguel Liscano, a Democratic political consultant in Austin who had been contracted by Democratic political action committees for performing “consultations.”

Some of the same PACs that paid Liscano for work also contributed to Margo’s challenger in the State Representative Texas House District #78 race, Joe Moody.

Margo lost the race to Moody in November.

Liscano did not answer phone calls when ABC7 tried to contact the consultant in 2012, looking for answers to how he learned an incident report had been written within 72 hours of the fender bender.

EPPD spokesman Sargeant Mears was unable to locate the names of the two supervisors who were given reprimands, or what exactly the reprimands entailed.