El Paso Police find no criminal misconduct after reviewing fuel card audit

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The City of El Paso's Chief Internal Auditor, Edmundo Calderon, presented the findings of his audit to members of the Financial Oversight & Audit Committee (FOAC) Thursday.

Calderon stated that the audit was originally scheduled and approved by the previous members of the FOAC back in the Fall of 2022.

Calderon said he received an anonymous tip on November 28th, 2022 that then District 6 Representative Claudia Rodriguez was using taxpayer-funded fuel cards for campaign purposes.

During his search, Calderon says he found that Rodriguez spent $5,293.94 with the fuel cards in 2022, while District 3 Representative Cassandra Hernandez spent even more. Hernandez's total came out to $6,691.49, according to data from the audit.

Calderon presented a timeline to FOAC, in which he presented his data to the Interim Police Chief, Peter Pacillas. The El Paso Police Department then began a criminal investigation.

El Police then informed the Chief Internal Auditor that they did not find anything criminal in their investigation. Calderon told ABC-7 that the reasoning was that the policy lacked verbiage restricting the use of the fuel cards.

Calderon's recommendations to the committee included a suggestion to get rid of fuel cards all together, and replace them with a vehicle allowance.