Eagle Pass ISD Police Department detain 11 additional juveniles in Eagle Pass High School and Junior High Vandalism Case, Bringing Total to 18

By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2017

The Eagle Pass Independent School District Police Department’s continuing investigation of the vandalism committed against Eagle Pass High School and Junior High School during Spring Break 2017 has nabbed another 11 juvenile students, totaling 18 individuals to date that have been detained and/or charged related to the vandalism case.

Eagle Pass Independent School District Board President Lupita Fuentes stated that 17 of the detained or charged are juvenile students and one adult, Antonio Caballero.  Fuentes noted that the investigation continues and there is a possibility of additional persons may be detained and/or charged.

During Spring Break 2017, individuals broke into Eagle Pass High School and Eagle Pass Junior High School causing significant damages to both campuses, particularly the Junior High campus, while wearing clown masks to disguise their identities.  The first person identified and charged in the vandalism case was Antonio Caballero, age 20, of Eagle Pass, Texas.  Subsequently, another six individuals were detained and/or charged in the school vandalism case.

The detention and/or charging of another eleven juvenile students in the vandalism case brings the total to 18 persons.  The parents of the juvenile students detained and/or charged have been notified.  The Eagle Pass Independent School District has filed charges against all 18 persons detained to date in the investigation.

Detained and/or charged juvenile students have had juvenile cases opened and referred to the EPISD’s alternative school for disciplinary students.  Only Antonio Caballero will be or is charged in state district court since he is an adult.

EPISD Board President Lupita Fuentes noted that the parents of these juvenile students and the adult individual detained and/or charged will be requested and responsible for paying restitution to the school district as damages were in the tens of thousands of dollars.

EPISD taxpayers are stunned that local students would destroy and damage their own school property as well as the large number of juvenile students involved in the vandalism case.  Taxpayers are shocked to learn that there may be additional persons involved but have not been detained and/or charged, raising many questions whether there is a juvenile delinquency or gangs problem in the Eagle Pass Independent School District and community.

Taxpayers anxiously await the final results of the school vandalism investigation.