Brickbat: Texas Two Step

A report by the Austin City Auditor’s Office in Austin, Texas, found two former city employees defrauded the city government out of $980,000. Auditors found that while working for Austin Energy, Mark Ybarra made payments to 22 “fictitious vendors” that he had created, with addresses linked to himself or his relatives, and submitted fake invoices to cover it up. The report also mentioned Ybarra’s wife, Ambrosia Ybarra, who previously worked for the city’s Watershed Protection Department, and it singled out two Austin Energy managers for approving payments based on invoices they “should have identified as questionable or illegitimate.” The couple have each been indicted by grand juries for felony theft, while the managers have not been charged.