Latest news with #Yanez
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Family sues Fontana police in shooting death of unarmed man in driveway
It was around dinnertime at the family home in Fontana when one of Jaime Valdez's loved ones called 911 to ask for help. 'I have a relative that's not supposed to be here,' the unnamed caller told the dispatcher, according to a recording released by authorities. 'He's one of my cousins that's been coming around, he's on drugs and he's threatening to kill us.' Police arrived that evening on Nov. 11, 2023, and found Valdez, 33, unarmed and lying in the driveway of the residence, where his mother lived. Exactly what happened next is under dispute — but Valdez ended up dead after being shot in the back of the head by a Fontana police officer. Read more: Torrance cops strike plea deal in swastika graffiti case that uncovered racist texts While authorities have claimed that Valdez tried to grab the officer's gun and taser, his family alleges police unnecessarily escalated the confrontation, then misled them about the killing. '[An] officer basically shot an unarmed person in the back of the head and then lied to the family about it for a year or more,' said Bradley Yourist, a lawyer for the Valdez family. 'It's pretty egregious.' Valdez's mother, Isabel, and his two daughters are now suing the Fontana Police Department in federal court, alleging excessive force. 'I want justice for my son,' Isabel Valdez said in Spanish in between sobs. 'The officer who took his life [should pay] just like any other criminal would pay. Just because he's a police officer he shouldn't avoid jail.' She claims the police stopped her from leaving her house after the shooting, preventing her from seeing her son's body. The family alleges officers said they would take Valdez to the hospital — but the autopsy report states that he died within seconds of being shot. Valdez's family didn't learn of his death until the next morning, their lawsuit says. The Fontana Police Department declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. In a social media post more than eight months after the shooting, the department said the officer who fired the fatal shot, Alex Yanez, had been "violently assaulted" and maintained that he and other officers who responded to the scene did nothing wrong. Yanez could be heard before the shooting yelling at Valdez to 'Let go of my gun,' according to California Department of Justice investigative records. The department, which launched an investigation two days after the shooting, declined to comment because the probe is ongoing. Read more: Faulty DNA test kits were used in thousands of L.A. County criminal cases, authorities say Yanez told investigators that DNA testing would corroborate his claim that Valdez had "gotten ahold of" his gun after disobeying commands and getting into a struggle. But the DNA results from Yanez's weapon came back inconclusive, state Bureau of Forensic Services records show, and Valdez's family contends that the edited version of body-worn camera video from the confrontation released by authorities leaves several questions unanswered. Valdez's family described him as a music lover and dedicated Los Angeles Dodgers and Dallas Cowboys fan. He had struggled with meth and heroin addiction, his family said in the lawsuit, which argues that when police found him lying in the driveway that evening he was unable 'to follow commands because of his altered state from drugs and mental health problems.' The edited body-cam video shows Yanez, who was hired by the Fontana Police Department in 2019, approaching Valdez, calling out repeatedly and receiving no response. Eventually, Valdez becomes alert enough to tell the officer he wants to 'go back inside." The officer replies, 'You're not supposed to be here though. … What's up with you, dude?' They go back and forth for a few moments before Valdez tells Yanez to 'Go knock on the door, bro." 'You're gonna be put in [expletive] handcuffs if you keep talking to me like that,' Yanez responds, his words censored in the clip released by police. Seconds later, Yanez orders Valdez to keep his hands out of his pockets, then tells him to 'put your hands behind your back, dude.' The video is then interrupted by an onscreen message from the Fontana Police Department: 'The officer attempts to handcuff the suspect and he resists.' When the clip resumes, Valdez is still on the ground and can be heard telling Yanez to "chill" as the officer tries to put him in handcuffs. The video doesn't provide a good view of Valdez at this point, but he can be heard saying "I'm not doing nothing to you, bro.' The sounds of a scuffle and a dog barking are audible before Valdez says, 'You're hurting me.' Yanez then repeatedly yells 'put your hands behind your back," before using his taser. 'Put your hands behind your back,' Yanez yells twice more as Valdez screams in agony. The video cuts to a message from the police: 'The officer and the suspect begin to struggle over the officer's handgun and an officer involved shooting occurs.' Three gunshots can be heard back to back. 'Send backup," Yanez says over his radio. "I'm hurt.' Valdez's family members say the police made false statements about the shooting and his condition. 'They lied about everything,' his sister, Rita Brandon, told The Times. 'They came and they told my mom that my brother was gonna be okay, that he'd been shot and he was on the way to the hospital, and the whole time he was outside in the driveway dead.' The family's lawsuit, filed in December in Los Angeles federal court, seeks damages for a list of alleged misdeeds, including denial of medical care, battery and negligence. The defense has filed a motion to stay the proceedings, with the next court hearing set for April 24. Michael Carillo, a lawyer for the Valdez family, said that 'what immediately jumped out about the video to me is the immediate escalation of force that was totally unnecessary and led to the unreasonable use of force.' Carillo noted that Valdez was not physically imposing — only 5 foot 3 and 130 pounds. "Instead of de-escalating it, calling in a mental health unit or supervisor, the officer escalated and escalated and ultimately shot [him]," Carillo said. The coroner's report stated that one bullet hit Valdez in the back of his head and the other two hit his left shoulder. Additional body-worn camera video reviewed by The Times depicts emergency personnel cutting Valdez's clothing away as he lay in the driveway and performing chest compressions in an attempt to revive him before declaring him dead. The state Department of Justice is still investigating the shooting, as required by law when a police shooting victim is unarmed. Valdez's teenage daughter — whose name The Times is withholding at the family's request because she is a minor — said she sleeps every night with a digital picture frame that loops photos of him, along with a treasured video of the two of them playing when she was 4 years old. The girl's biological father left when she was very young, and Valdez — whom she refers to affectionately as Jime — got together with her mother when she was 2. A year later, she started calling him dad. 'I didn't even know what a dad was until Jime came along. My sister didn't come along until years later," she said, referring to Valdez's biological daughter as tears streamed down her face. "So it was always us two, so that was all I knew. Jime was my dad.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
16-04-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Family sues Fontana police in shooting death of unarmed man in driveway
It was around dinnertime at the family home in Fontana when one of Jaime Valdez's loved ones called 911 to ask for help. 'I have a relative that's not supposed to be here,' the unnamed caller told the dispatcher, according to a recording released by authorities. 'He's one of my cousins that's been coming around, he's on drugs and he's threatening to kill us.' Police arrived that evening on Nov. 11, 2023, and found Valdez, 33, unarmed and lying in the driveway of the residence, where his mother lived. Exactly what happened next is under dispute — but Valdez ended up dead after being shot in the back of the head by a Fontana police officer. While authorities have claimed that Valdez tried to grab the officer's gun and taser, his family alleges police unnecessarily escalated the confrontation, then misled them about the killing. '[An] officer basically shot an unarmed person in the back of the head and then lied to the family about it for a year or more,' said Bradley Yourist, a lawyer for the Valdez family. 'It's pretty egregious.' Valdez's mother, Isabel, and his two daughters are now suing the Fontana Police Department in federal court, alleging excessive force. 'I want justice for my son,' Isabel Valdez said in Spanish in between sobs. 'The officer who took his life [should pay] just like any other criminal would pay. Just because he's a police officer he shouldn't avoid jail.' She claims the police stopped her from leaving her house after the shooting, preventing her from seeing her son's body. The family alleges officers said they would take Valdez to the hospital — but the autopsy report states that he died within seconds of being shot. Valdez's family didn't learn of his death until the next morning, their lawsuit says. The Fontana Police Department declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. In a social media post more than eight months after the shooting, the department said the officer who fired the fatal shot, Alex Yanez, had been 'violently assaulted' and maintained that he and other officers who responded to the scene did nothing wrong. Yanez could be heard before the shooting yelling at Valdez to 'Let go of my gun,' according to California Department of Justice investigative records. The department, which launched an investigation two days after the shooting, declined to comment because the probe is ongoing. Yanez told investigators that DNA testing would corroborate his claim that Valdez had 'gotten ahold of' his gun after disobeying commands and getting into a struggle. But the DNA results from Yanez's weapon came back inconclusive, state Bureau of Forensic Services records show, and Valdez's family contends that the edited version of body-worn camera video from the confrontation released by authorities leaves several questions unanswered. Valdez's family described him as a music lover and dedicated Los Angeles Dodgers and Dallas Cowboys fan. He had struggled with meth and heroin addiction, his family said in the lawsuit, which argues that when police found him lying in the driveway that evening he was unable 'to follow commands because of his altered state from drugs and mental health problems.' The edited body-cam video shows Yanez, who was hired by the Fontana Police Department in 2019, approaching Valdez, calling out repeatedly and receiving no response. Eventually, Valdez becomes alert enough to tell the officer he wants to 'go back inside.' The officer replies, 'You're not supposed to be here though. … What's up with you, dude?' They go back and forth for a few moments before Valdez tells Yanez to 'Go knock on the door, bro.' 'You're gonna be put in [expletive] handcuffs if you keep talking to me like that,' Yanez responds, his words censored in the clip released by police. Seconds later, Yanez orders Valdez to keep his hands out of his pockets, then tells him to 'put your hands behind your back, dude.' The video is then interrupted by an onscreen message from the Fontana Police Department: 'The officer attempts to handcuff the suspect and he resists.' When the clip resumes, Valdez is still on the ground and can be heard telling Yanez to 'chill' as the officer tries to put him in handcuffs. The video doesn't provide a good view of Valdez at this point, but he can be heard saying 'I'm not doing nothing to you, bro.' The sounds of a scuffle and a dog barking are audible before Valdez says, 'You're hurting me.' Yanez then repeatedly yells 'put your hands behind your back,' before using his taser. 'Put your hands behind your back,' Yanez yells twice more as Valdez screams in agony. The video cuts to a message from the police: 'The officer and the suspect begin to struggle over the officer's handgun and an officer involved shooting occurs.' Three gunshots can be heard back to back. 'Send backup,' Yanez says over his radio. 'I'm hurt.' Valdez's family members say the police made false statements about the shooting and his condition. 'They lied about everything,' his sister, Rita Brandon, told The Times. 'They came and they told my mom that my brother was gonna be okay, that he'd been shot and he was on the way to the hospital, and the whole time he was outside in the driveway dead.' The family's lawsuit, filed in December in Los Angeles federal court, seeks damages for a list of alleged misdeeds, including denial of medical care, battery and negligence. The defense has filed a motion to stay the proceedings, with the next court hearing set for April 24. Michael Carillo, a lawyer for the Valdez family, said that 'what immediately jumped out about the video to me is the immediate escalation of force that was totally unnecessary and led to the unreasonable use of force.' Carillo noted that Valdez was not physically imposing — only 5 foot 3 and 130 pounds. 'Instead of de-escalating it, calling in a mental health unit or supervisor, the officer escalated and escalated and ultimately shot [him],' Carillo said. The coroner's report stated that one bullet hit Valdez in the back of his head and the other two hit his left shoulder. Additional body-worn camera video reviewed by The Times depicts emergency personnel cutting Valdez's clothing away as he lay in the driveway and performing chest compressions in an attempt to revive him before declaring him dead. The state Department of Justice is still investigating the shooting, as required by law when a police shooting victim is unarmed. Valdez's teenage daughter — whose name The Times is withholding at the family's request because she is a minor — said she sleeps every night with a digital picture frame that loops photos of him, along with a treasured video of the two of them playing when she was 4 years old. The girl's biological father left when she was very young, and Valdez — whom she refers to affectionately as Jime — got together with her mother when she was 2. A year later, she started calling him dad. 'I didn't even know what a dad was until Jime came along. My sister didn't come along until years later,' she said, referring to Valdez's biological daughter as tears streamed down her face. 'So it was always us two, so that was all I knew. Jime was my dad.'
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump's immigration tactics obstruct efforts to avert bird flu pandemic, researchers say
This is a KFF Health News story. Aggressive deportation tactics have terrorized farmworkers at the center of the nation's bird flu strategy, public health workers say. Dairy and poultry workers have accounted for most cases of the bird flu in the U.S. -- and preventing and detecting cases among them is key to averting a pandemic. But public health specialists say they're struggling to reach farmworkers because many are terrified to talk with strangers or to leave home. "People are very scared to go out, even to get groceries," said Rosa Yanez, an outreach worker at Strangers No Longer, a Detroit-based Catholic organization that supports immigrants and refugees in Michigan with legal and health problems, including the bird flu. "People are worried about losing their kids, or about their kids losing their parents." "I used to tell people about the bird flu, and workers were happy to have that information," Yanez said. "But now people just want to know their rights." MORE: Judge to consider blocking controversial Trump deportation policy Outreach workers who teach farmworkers about the bird flu, provide protective gear and connect them with tests say they noticed a dramatic shift -- first in California, the state hit hardest by the bird flu -- after immigration raids beginning on Jan. 7, the day after Congress certified President Donald Trump's election victory. That's when Border Patrol agents indiscriminately stopped about 200 Latino farmworkers and day laborers in California's Central Valley, according to local reports cited in a lawsuit subsequently filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the United Farm Workers union and several people who were stopped and detained. Border Patrol agents went on a fishing expedition" in a three-day raid called "Operation Return to Sender" that "tore families apart and terrorized the community," the lawsuit alleges. Among those stopped was Yolanda Aguilera Martinez, a farmworker and grandmother who lives legally in the U.S. and has no criminal record. She was driving at the speed limit on her way to a doctor's appointment when plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles pulled her over, ordered her out of the car, pushed her to the ground and handcuffed her, the lawsuit says. Agents eventually released Aguilera Martinez, but the lawsuit says others who faced deportation were detained for days in "cold, windowless cells" before they were transported to Mexico and abandoned. They weren't told why they had been arrested, given an opportunity to defend themselves, or allowed to call a lawyer or their families, the lawsuit alleges. It says that the four children of one deported father, who had no criminal record, "have become quiet and scared" and that his epileptic son's "seizures have worsened." News of the raid spread quickly in California, where an estimated 880,000 mainly Latino farmworkers live. Dairies that employ immigrant labor produce nearly 80% of the U.S. milk supply, according to a 2014 survey. "After Operation Return to Sender, dairy workers became even less willing to speak about the lack of protection on dairy farms and the lack of sick pay when they're infected -- even anonymously," said Antonio De Loera-Brust, a spokesperson for the United Farm Workers. Outreach workers in other states report a similar chilling effect from raids and immigration policies passed after Trump took office. He repeatedly degraded immigrants and pledged mass deportations on the campaign trail. "They're not humans, they're animals," he said of immigrants illegally in the U.S. last April. Trump's first legislative action was to sign the Laken Riley Act into law, mandating federal detention for immigrants accused of any crime, regardless of whether they're convicted. On Jan. 21, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded the "protected areas" policy, allowing agents to arrest people who don't have legal status while they're in schools, churches or hospitals. Last month, the Trump administration deported more than 100 Venezuelans and others without a hearing, ignoring a court order to turn around planes flying the men to El Salvador. The public health ramifications of farmworkers shrinking from view are potentially massive: Infectious disease scientists say that preventing people from getting bird flu and detecting cases are critical to warding off a bird flu pandemic. That's why the government has funded efforts to protect farmworkers and monitor them for signs of bird flu, like red eyes or flu-like symptoms. "Every time a worker gets sick, you're rolling the die, so it's in everyone's interest to protect them," De Loera-Brust said. "The virus doesn't care what your immigration papers say." About 65 dairy and poultry workers have tested positive for the bird flu since March 2024, but the true number of infections is higher. A KFF Health News investigation found that patchy surveillance resulted in cases going undetected on farms last year, and studies have revealed signs of prior infections in farmworkers who hadn't been tested. State and local health departments were beginning to overcome last year's barriers to bird flu testing, said Salvador Sandoval, a doctor who retired recently from the Merced County health department in California. Now, he said, "people see a mobile testing unit and think it's Border Patrol." MORE: 2nd bird flu virus detected in western US. What does this mean for prevention? Last year, outreach organizations connected with farmworkers at places where they gathered, like at food distribution events, but those are no longer well attended, Sandoval and others said. "Regardless of immigration status, people who look like immigrants are feeling a lot of fear right now," said Hunter Knapp, the development director at Project Protect Food Systems Workers, a farmworker advocacy organization in Colorado that does bird flu outreach. He said some Latino community health workers have scaled back their outreach efforts because they worry about being harassed by the authorities or members of the public. A Latina outreach worker in Michigan, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she's worried about retaliation against her family, said, "Many people don't go to the doctor right now, because of the immigration situation." "They prefer to stay at home and let the pain or redness in the eye or whatever it is go away," she said. "Things have really intensified this year, and people are very, very scared." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported far fewer human cases since Trump took office. During the three months before Jan. 20, the agency confirmed two dozen cases. Since then, it's detected only three, including two people with cases severe enough to be hospitalized. The CDC has said it continues to track the bird flu, but Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, said the slowdown in cases might be due to a lack of testing. "I am concerned that we are seeing a contraction in surveillance and not necessarily a contraction in the spread of the virus." Undetected infections pose a threat to farmworkers and to the public at large. Because viruses evolve by mutating within bodies, each infection is like a pull of a slot machine lever. A person who died of the bird flu in Louisiana in December illustrates that point: Scientific evidence suggests that bird flu viruses evolved inside the patient, gaining mutations that may make the viruses more capable of spreading between humans. However, because the patient was isolated in a hospital, the more dangerous viruses didn't transmit to others. That might not happen if sick farmworkers don't receive treatment and live in crowded households or windowless detention centers where they might infect others, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. Although the bird flu doesn't yet have the ability to spread easily between people through the air, like the seasonal flu, it might occasionally spread when people are in close quarters -- and evolve to do so more efficiently. "I worry that we might not figure out that this is happening until some people get severely sick," Rasmussen said. "At that point, the numbers would be so large it could go off the rails." The virus might never evolve to spread easily, but it could. Rasmussen said that outcome would be "catastrophic." Based on what's known about human infections, she and her colleagues predict in a new report that an H5N1 bird flu pandemic "would overwhelm healthcare systems" and "cause millions more deaths" than the covid-19 pandemic. Late last year, the CDC rolled out a seasonal flu vaccine campaign targeted at more than 200,000 livestock workers. The hope was that flu vaccinations would lessen the chance of a farmworker being infected by seasonal flu and bird flu viruses simultaneously. Co-infection gives the two flu viruses a chance to swap genes, potentially creating a bird flu virus that spreads as easily as the seasonal variety. Yet Sandoval said flu vaccine uptake dropped immediately after the January operation in California. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in a statement that they arrested 78 immigrants "unlawfully present in the U.S." during the three-day operation. They included a convicted sex offender and others with criminal histories including vandalism and petty theft, the statement said. The agency did not name allegations against each person and did not say whether all had been charged. MORE: Migrant farm workers go on high alert amid immigration raids Former officials with the Biden administration, which was in its waning days as the arrests occurred, distanced itself from the operation in interviews with The Los Angeles Times. Mayra Joachin, an attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, said the operation was unlike others under the Biden administration in that these were indiscriminate arrests by Border Patrol in the interior of the country. "It fits with the Trump administration's broader campaign of instilling fear in immigrant communities," she said, "as seen in the election campaign and in subsequent actions attacking anyone perceived to be a noncitizen in the country." In March, an assistant chief in the Border Patrol unit that conducted the operation, David Kim, called the operation a "proof of concept." "We know we can push beyond that limit now as far as distance goes," he told the Southern California news outlet Inewsource. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. In an email, White House spokesperson Kush Desai wrote, "Despite what the 'experts' believe, combatting the Avian flu epidemic and enforcing our immigration laws are not mutually exclusive." Anna Hill Galendez, a managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, which is involved in bird flu outreach, said unusually aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deterred sick dairy workers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula from leaving their homes for care in late January. They contacted the center for help. "They wanted medical care. They wanted flu vaccines. They wanted [personal protective equipment]. They wanted to get tested," Hill Galendez said. "But they were afraid to go anywhere because of immigration enforcement." Lynn Sutfin, a public information officer at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, responded to queries about the situation in the peninsula in an email to KFF Health News, saying, "The farmworkers did not take the local health department and MDHHS up on the testing offer." The CDC declined to comment on the impact of immigration actions on farmworker outreach. To adapt to the new reality, Yanez now draws attention to her advice on the bird flu in Michigan by pairing it with information on immigrant rights. Knapp, in Colorado, said his organization is shifting its approach away from bird flu outreach at events where farmworkers congregate, because that could be perceived as a setup -- and could inadvertently become one if ICE agents targeted such an event. Outreach workers who live among farmworkers are withdrawing a little, too. "Being Latinos, we are always identified," said the outreach worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "I have a visa that protects me, but things are changing very quickly under the Trump administration, and the truth is, nothing is certain." Trump's immigration tactics obstruct efforts to avert bird flu pandemic, researchers say originally appeared on
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
Former receptionist at Tyler law firm accused of stealing more than $30k
TYLER, Texas (KETK) — A former receptionist at a Tyler law firm was arrested on Wednesday for stealing more than $30,000 from clients by falsifying receipts and hiding payments, an affidavit stated. Truck driver convicted after dumping woman's body in East Texas woods Sandra Arroyo Yanez was arrested on theft of property of more than $30,000 but less than $150,000. This comes after a lengthy Smith County Sheriff's Office investigation that began late last year when deputies were contacted by an associate attorney from Moran Law Firm. The associate attorney said Yanez was hired in April 2024 as a receptionist and was responsible for accepting client payments including cash payments. However, the associate attorney told detectives that Yanez was using her own, non-firm approved receipt book, and issued receipts to the firm's clients 'as a way of hiding the monies from business records.' The law firm claims they did not know these clients existed and hence were unaware of their obligation to provide legal services. The associate attorney said they learned of this incident on Jan. 1, when clients began calling for a status update on their cases, but the firm was unable to locate any case information. Children removed from Nacogdoches home after illegal drugs found accessible, officials say When the law firm confronted Yanez about their discovery, Yanez reportedly admitted to taking $5,000 from a client. She then signed an affidavit and admission to her theft for the law firm, agreeing to repay them $300 a month until she finished paying everything she had stolen. As apart of the agreement, Yanez was terminated from her job. Eight days later, the firm reportedly found a similar incident where another client had paid $4,000 to retain legal services and Yanez was responsible for receiving the money but had not reported the money. At this point, the firm pursued criminal charges against Yanez. On Feb. 3, another victim came forward, stating that he had met with Yanez on multiple occasions while she was still working for the firm. The victim provided four receipts dated September, October, and December 2024 showing payments of $3,500, $800, $1,000, and $1,000, totaling $6,300, all of which were signed by Yanez. The victim said he paid Yanez a total of $7,800 in cash although Yanez only provided him with receipts for the $6,300. '[The victim] reported that Yanez would meet him in the parking garage of the Moran Law Firm office, at a church location within the City of Tyler and would meet at random times such as 6 a.m. during the week, 8 a.m. on Saturdays and other times outside of normal business hours,' the affidavit stated. Once the victim did not receive updates from the firm, he insisted on speaking with the attorney. Sometime in October 2024, Yanez complied and reportedly placed a younger woman on the line. Yanez reportedly implied the young woman was an interpreter for the attorney who only spoke English. The victim said the 'attorney' sounded very young and did not provide any real legal guidance. After the lack of information, the victim went to the firm in person where he learned that Yanez was no longer an employee and the firm had no record of him as a client. Man pleads guilty to murder of girlfriend found dead in East Texas woods Investigators learned that Yanez still had a cellphone application downloaded to her phone and had been intercepting calls to the firm, including phone calls from the victim. Officials believe Yanez was intercepting incoming calls from people she allegedly stole money from to cover her tracks. On one occasion, Yanez told the victim not to believe anything the firm told him. She also offered to meet with the victim to go over his legal issues and would help resolve this issue for him. Investigators instructed the victim to arrange a meeting with Yanez at a location they had met before for Wednesday at 9 a.m. and devised a tactical response to take her into custody. Officials observed Yanez arrive, exit the truck and enter the establishment. Once inside, detectives took her into custody and conducted a pat search for weapons, but did not locate any on Yanez. She then reportedly gave authorities a verbal consent to search her truck, where authorities said they found items of value to the case. 'Yanez's purse was located on the front passenger seat which contained $197, her passport and other family members passports and forms of government identification, and a payment receipt issued from Moran law Firm in the amount of $203.03 dated Jan. 2,' the affidavit stated. Arrest records reveal former East Texas pastor used church office to sexually abuse children A notebook was also found in her purse that contained her banking information including accounts, logins and passcodes. A folder was also found with official documents of her victims. During an interview, Yanez reportedly told investigators that she and her family had been struggling financially over the past few years and had already borrowed $30,000 to catch up on their bills. Yanez said she felt bad that her husband had to take on the stress load of the bills, leading her to steal money from the firm to help contribute. According to the affidavit, Yanez admitted to stealing $16,700 and admitted to meet the victim outside of the office to collect money she had stolen from the firm. After speaking with Yanez, investigators were once again contacted by the law firm that there was a fifth victim who had made four payments totaling $8,000 in cash to Yanez for legal services but were not listed as clients. To this date, Yanez has reportedly stolen $7,800 from the first victim, $4,000 from the second victim, $5,000 from the third victim, $6,300 from a fourth victim and $8,000 from the last victim. The amount totals to $31,1000. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
