Another day, another warrant…

Posted on January 12, 2017 in Uncategorized

Those of you who have been following this blog for the last…I don’t even remember how long ago this started…anyway, Xtagged fans will wonder why I even bothered to post this because it’s so redundant.  That said, another warrant has been issued for Andy Esquivel’s arrest.  Ho-hum, what else is new?

The warrant was issued yesterday by Judge Connors because Andy neglected to show up for his January 10th case review hearing.  Cash bail has been set at $5,000, which means Andy cannot bond out.  He has to cough up $5,000 in dead Presidents or they’re going to lock him up until Judge Connors has time to ask him face-to-face why he isn’t complying with his court managed probation.

For those of you who don’t read this page often, let’s review how we got here:  Andy plead guilty to two felony counts of securities fraud.  He was sentenced to two five-year jail terms, which were suspended on condition that Andy comply with certain conditions of his probation.  Those conditions included (a) getting a job and (b) paying fines, restitution, and interest.  Andy was assigned a few probation officers, but he screwed that up by giving his PO the finger online.  The court was lenient and allowed Andy to continue court-managed probation, but the terms were strict – pay $500 per month OR ELSE!!!

A hearing was set for January 10th to review Andy’s progress.  Unfortunately, Andy has made no progress, so it was more than likely that Judge Connors would have greeted Andy with handcuffs and at least six months in jail.  Andy could have shown up and plead poverty (after all, he’s currently collecting unemployment), but he chose to skip court altogether and take his chances.  He is currently $1,550 behind on his payments to the court, which is a bad thing.

“The Defendant is not present and is $1550 past due on his financial obligations. The Court orders a $5000 cash only bench warrant for his failure to appear.”

Court Audio from January 10th hearing [MP3]

Another review hearing has been set for January 17th, at which time Judge Connors will probably order Andy in absentia to serve a bunch of time in jail.  He’s collecting unemployment checks right now, so it isn’t as if the state will have any trouble picking him up for his date behind bars.

Personally, I don’t know what Andy is thinking.  This isn’t so hard – get a job, pay your child support, pay your fines, and pay your victims back.  It’s only $500/mo. so I don’t understand why this is so hard.  Andy’s life would be so much easier if he would just bite the bullet and get in line.  Unfortunately Andy just isn’t willing to grow up.

Here is the case file [PDF] for those of you who want to review the latest.  Also, here is the warrant [PDF] issued by Judge Connors in case anyone is curious. 

UPDATE: 

As you can see below, Andy has responded to this post, both here and on Facebook.  It’s pretty funny actually – on the one hand, Andy claims that he’s too broke to pay his fines and reparations because he doesn’t have a job, is collecting unemployment, and half his unemployment is going to pay back child support.  On the other hand Andy claims to have a full time job working “graveyards” as his excuse for not showing up to court on January 10th. 

Andy, you can’t have it both ways.  Either you have a job or you don’t.  For my money, I’m betting you’re unemployed.  The fact is, you can’t collect unemployment if you are working “full time”, and you yourself admitted that you’re collecting unemployment, so…

I understand your dilemma.  If you’re working, then you can afford to pay the court the money you owe.  If you’re not working, you can plead poverty to the court, but you can’t afford to feed your family and you risk going to jail for a very long time.  It’s a risky game you’re playing.  I for one suggest you (a) get a job and (b) tell the court exactly where you are working (c) provide proof of your gainful employment and (d) start paying your fines.  It’s the only way you’re going to stay out of jail.