CEO of Hidalgo County EMS pleads guilty to bankruptcy fraud

[TexasTowelie]

McALLEN — The owner of one of South Texas’ largest ambulance companies is facing up to five years in prison and was ordered to pay $124,000 in restitution Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud.

Kenneth B. Ponce, 48, of Lyford, admitted to a federal judge that he committed a slew of offenses during bankruptcy proceedings for Hidalgo County EMS, a private company that, despite its name, is not affiliated with the local government entity.

Ponce served as CEO of the Hidalgo County Emergency Services Foundation — which the federal government collectively referred to as Hidalgo County EMS because it does business under that name, as well South Texas Air Med and South Texas EMS.

According to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery, Ponce admitted he committed perjury when filling out federal bankruptcy court paperwork about the company’s assets and debts, failed to disclose or falsified certain transactions in order to conceal property from the bankruptcy estate and fraudulently received material amounts of property from the estate and permitted others to continue to do so.

Read more: https://myrgv.com/featured/2021/03/17/ceo-of-hidalgo-county-ems-pleads-guilty-to-bankruptcy-fraud/
(McAllen Monitor)

[UpInArms]

1. Nice guy ... not!

Other violations involved aircraft the company used.

“Hidalgo County EMS was also paying WFAS Inc. for leases on the exclusive use of two airplanes. Ponce owned WFAS,” the U.S. attorney’s southern district office said in the news release. “In bankruptcy filings, Ponce said the leases were dedicated to emergency transfers. In reality, at least one of the planes was inoperable during portions of the bankruptcy.”

Ponce also personally used the planes and arranged its chartered flights.