Jailed transgender woman’s alleged accomplice granted bond

Jail Magistrate Judge Penny Hamilton set a bond Thursday of $75,000 for Mario Alberto De Avila, the man accused of four counts of forgery in connection with a mail theft investigation.

Court document state De Avila is the ex-boyfriend of Irvin Gonzalez, the transgender woman arrested at the County Courthouse moments after obtaining a protective order against De Avila last month.

ABC-7 was the only media outlet at the hearing.

As part of the personal recognizance bond, De Avila was given a curfew of between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., unless he’s coming from work or school.

Conditions also include not leaving El Paso County or going to Mexico, no weapons and reporting on a weekly basis.

“If he misses one, any weekly reporting, you are to notify me immediately and he’s going to be back in this type of situation,” Hamilton told the court, including De Avila’s attorney Victor Parra.

Parra confirmed to ABC-7 his client and Gonzalez are connected to the mail fraud scheme El Paso Police highlighted in a news conference earlier this month in an effort to locate more victims.

Gonzalez is accused of being “the head of a money order washing scheme,” court documents state.

Gonzalez and De Avila allegedly stole mail from U.S. Postal Service mailboxes to obtain money orders. They were then allegedly washed to remove the names and replaced with De Avila’s name in the “pay to the order of” sections.

An elderly woman who mailed a money order to pay her rent was the among the victims, court documents state.

Police want any additional victims to contact them if they suspect their mail or money order may have been stolen after placing it inside a blue U.S. Postal Service collection mailbox between last March and December.

According to De Avila’s supplemental report, the alleged thefts took place at the Post Office boxes at 3011 East Yandell.