Former Val Verde County Commissioner Ramiro Ramon Sentenced to Federal Prison

In Del Rio today, a federal judge sentenced former Val Verde County Precinct 1 Commissioner Ramiro V. Ramon to 18 months in federal prison for underreporting his total income on three separate federal Income Tax Returns, announced United States Attorney John F. Bash, FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs and Acting IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Andy Tsui.

In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Alia Moses ordered that Ramon pay $10,780 restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and be placed on supervised release for a period of one year after completing his prison term.  Ramon remains on bond pending notification by the U.S. Bureau of Prison as to where to report to begin serving his prison term.

On April 27, 2017, Ramon pleaded guilty to three counts of false statements on Income Tax Returns.  According to court records, since 2005, the defendant managed a Val Verde County real estate project called “the Ranch.”  Between 2005 and 2012, Ramon accepted approximately $47,000 in payments from a San Antonio developer; approximately $10,500 from a group of New Braunfels business owners; and $5,000 from a California businessman, to manage the property.  Ramon, admittedly, failed to report the total income he received from managing ‘The Ranch” on his electronically filed federal income tax returns for 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“Rooting out public corruption remains one of the IRS-CI’s highest priorities,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Andy Tsui, San Antonio Field Office. “Today’s sentencing of Ramiro Ramon further illustrates no public official gets a free pass to ignore the tax laws.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigated this case.   Assistant United States Attorney William R. Harris prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.