School Board President’s DWI charges upgraded

By J. NOEL ESPINOZA
Special to the NEWS

The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office has upgraded the driving while intoxicated charges against Michael A. Vargas, the San Benito Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees president after his Oct. 31 hearing that also dealt with his compliance to install an interlock device on his vehicle.

In a statement released by the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, officials said Vargas’s DWI charges had been upgraded due to the high content of alcohol allegedly found on his body.

Victoria Cisneros, a public information officer at the DA’s office, said that blood draws generally take months because of the Texas Department of Public Safety’s lab backlog. She said they usually file DWI cases before receiving the blood draw results.

“In the Vargas case, we originally filed it as a DWI first,” reads the statement issued. “Subsequent to our filing, we received the blood draw results. Because the blood draw was 15% or higher, it counts as a DWI [case] second.”

The statement adds that the DA’s office therefore dismissed the original DWI first with the case number 19-CCR-3793 and has since filed a DWI second with a case number 19-CCR-4564.

In Texas, if BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) is greater than .15 , the court must order installation of ignition interlock devices on all owned motor vehicles for 1 year following a period of license suspension, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length. To read the full story, click here or make sure to grab a copy of the Nov. 8-14, 2019 issue of the NEWS.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2019/11/07/school-board-presidents-dwi-charges-upgraded/

3 comments

    • Mama Lou on November 17, 2019 at 12:51 am
    • Reply

    He broke the law he should step down. He is not a good role model to be making any decisions that effect our students because clearly he can’t make the right decision of not driving while intoxicated. I hope the judge put someone that respect the law not keep breaking in Mr. Vargas place while this situation is taken care of.

    • Phishing for something on November 7, 2019 at 8:45 pm
    • Reply

    My question is, WHERE DID HE CONSUME ALL THAT ALCOHOL? WORD on the street was that the “BODY” has been meeting and socializing together. Was it at the PROJECT MGRS premesis? Or maybe LEGAL COUNSELS premesis? Hay algo! Somebody IS GOING TO MILK SOMEBODY for that 40mil PROJECT. All of this would have gone UNNOTICED until VARGAS OVER CELEBRATED. But then AGAIN I hear it’s not the first.

    • Only in San Benito.. on November 7, 2019 at 5:56 pm
    • Reply

    SMFH… And the majority of board and the scamming crook super..Carman. and the mamones-principals, staff..and other brownnosers .. still Support this MoFo. Plain and simple BS.. until he kills someone while driving.. then all his friends and brownnosers….. will OPEN THEIR EYES. WHOSE TO GARANTEE THAT HE’S NOT still driving drunk. .. in another person’s car that doesn’t have that device.

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