Posted on 02/04/2008 3:12:24 PM PST by devane617
Oops, make that Campeon.
Comes from hearing it mispronounced too much.
Imagine that, she didn’t show up..... again.
Will I be the first person to wonder about her immigration status?
Let me check....
Warrant woman strikes payment deal
Sanchez required to begin paying $250 a month for unpaid fines
By AMANDA HARRIS/VALLEY MORNING STAR
January 31, 2008 - 12:04AM
HARLINGEN — A woman who accumulated 76 outstanding warrants and more than $18,000 in unpaid fines over a 10-year period has been given a chance to pay the money she owes the city, officials said.
A municipal court judge this week ordered Valerie Ortiz Sanchez, 31, to follow a payment plan.
“She is required to pay a minimum of $250 a month until her fines are paid off,” Finance Director Roel Gutierrez said Wednesday.
After missing her scheduled court hearing Monday, Ortiz Sanchez stood before a municipal court judge Tuesday and was given a payment plan, Gutierrez said.
Under the plan, it will take Ortiz Sanchez almost five years to pay off the $14,196 in fines she still owes the city, Gutierrez said.
Usually, a municipal court judge will require people with outstanding fines to make a first payment within 30 days of their court date, Gutierrez said.
Ortiz Sanchez originally owed $18,896 in fines for 76 warrants dating to 1998, officials said. The amount was reduced to $15,696 after some of the warrants were dismissed in a court appearance Jan. 15.
So far, about 20 warrants have been dismissed, including the oldest offenses cleared by the municipal court judge on Jan. 15 and others covered by a $1,500 payment Ortiz Sanchez made Jan. 16 to be released from the Harlingen city jail, Gutierrez said.
After making the $1,500 payment, her balance was down to $14,196.
Ortiz Sanchez went to the municipal court late Tuesday after watching local television news and learning she missed her scheduled court date Monday, Gutierrez said.
City officials did not charge Ortiz Sanchez with another count of failure to appear in court because she went to court before the paperwork for a new warrant was completed, Gutierrez said, which is standard procedure.
“As of now, her warrants are cleared but could possibly come back if she doesn’t make payments,” Gutierrez said.
If Ortiz Sanchez misses any payments, a judge will reinstate the warrants that have not been paid for, Gutierrez said.If Ortiz Sanchez begins to make payments and then stops at any point during the payment plan, the warrants she has not paid for will be reinstated, Gutierrez said.
Ortiz Sanchez’s case came to light after she was arrested in a traffic stop Jan. 14.
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