Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

Early last Monday morning May 6, Montgomery County 911 dispatchers received a call about a bad wreck on FM 1774, south of Magnolia.

When Magnolia firefighters arrived around 1:30 a.m., they found a white 2008 Dodge pickup truck in a ravine off the side of the road, near Hunters Lane.

Officials said that the truck veered off the road and cut through several trees, before ending up on its side. Firefighters and EMT's found the driver, Ramiro Castillo-Juarez, 25, still eat belted inside the cab with minor injuries.

His coworker, Louis Alcala, 47, was not seat belted and was found non-responsive inside the truck. Montgomery County Pct. 5 Justice of the Peace Matt Masden later declared Alcala dead at the scene.

Castillo-Juarez was transported to Tomball Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. After his release he was taken into custody
and jailed on charges of Intoxication Manslaugh-ter.

The crash caused a headache for early morning traffic, as a crane from Milstead Heavy Duty had to be called in to remove the truck from the ravine. FM 1774 was closed in both directions until just after 6 a.m.

Alcala's body was transported to the Montgomery County Forensic Center for autopsy.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's office said that Castillo-Juarez's bond was set at $150,000.

The crash was investigated by Department of Public Safety troopers and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

A Magnolia woman has been arrested and charged in Harris County, after she allegedly embezzled nearly $200,000 from her Tomball employer.

Cindy Lee Berry, 44, was charged with Theft of greater than $100,000, but less than $200,000, after officials allege she stole the money over a period of a year-and-a-half fromher employer Johnston Water Well Service. The thefts allegedly took place from Jan 2011 through August of 2012.

The owners of the company have also filed a civil suit in Montgomery County against Berry. Their attorney in the civil case, Field Hudgens, said that the Johnston's discovered some irregularities when looking over their books.

"It came to my client's attention that there were irregularities in the books, checks were missing among other things and an audit showed that there was nearly $200,000 missing," Hudgens said. "After more digging it became clear to them who was responsible."

At that point the Johnston's turned over the information to the Harris County Sheriff's Office who investigated the case.

"We worked with law enforcement agencies to provide all the information to them," Hudgens said.

After completing a lengthy investigation, the Harris County District Attorney's Office filed charges against Berry a month ago, after a grand jury decided to indict her.

"The DA's office has taken a very hard look at this case and is treating it as a very serious matter," said assistant district attorney Lester Blizzard. "It was reported to us and we found evidence to support the alleged embezzlement."

Berry was arrested on April 18. She made a $100,000 bond on April 26 and was released.

Her attorney Stephen Jackson of Conroe said he is still in the early stages of building Berry's defense strategy.

"I have been in touch with her civil attorney and the district attorney is cooperating with us in handing over the information we need," Jackson said. "We will be digging into the records in order to get to the bottom of this. It's a private matter for the Berry's and we will help them through this."

Laura Johnston, who owns the business with her husband, said that the ordeal left her stunned.

"We didn't suspect anything and when we found (the theft) it was a big shock," she said. "We felt betrayed."

Hudgens said he is trying to work out a settlement agreement with Berry's civil attorney.

"We are in the process of contacting Berry's attorney to try and reach an agreement so they can recover some of their money," he said. "I am happy to report that Johnston Water Well Service has survived and continues to be a viable and strong business in Tomball."

Johnston said she hopes other business owners learn from her situation.

"People need to be watching," she said. "I don't want this to happen to others."

If convicted, Berry could face a punishment of two to 20 years in state prison.

The Tomball City Council heard about the successful week long clean up effort during their regular meeting May 6.

The Tomball public works department recently held a clean up week and consolidated recycling day for city residents.

"This is just one of those events that are at the top of the list of things that I do that are rewarding," said Tomball Public Works Director David Kauffman.

The department has held a clean up week for 14 years now, according to Kauffman. The week consists of city workers chipping and disposing of yard brush and removing various bulk items like fridges and furniture from residents homes.

For the last three years the city has added a recycling day.

"This started with myself and the chiefs getting together with Sgt. Rebecca Carlisle for the prescription drug take back with the DEA, plus the demand we had from the public for the recycling of electronics, paper shredding and that kind of thing," Kauffman said.

Kauffman reported that 150 cubic yards of bulk waste was collected, 270 cubic yards of brush and limbs, as well as 327 pounds of prescription drugs.

"When you remove that amount of prescriptions from the wastewater treatment system, it's big," he said. "If you were to flush 10 pounds of antibiotics down the toilet, then 10 pounds of antibiotics would end up in the creek. It doesn't dissipate in the treatment system."

Kauffman also said that 11,140 pounds of electronics were recycled, three tons of mixed household items, 181 gallons of used oil, 30 gallons of antifreeze and 6,000 pounds of paper was shredded.

"That amount of paper saved 52.3 trees, 10 kilowatt hours of energy, 10.2 cubic yards of landfill space, almost 22,000 gallons of water and 185.4 pounds of air pollution," he said.

In other business the council unanimously passed a proposal to sell bonds that will be used to finance the infrastructure for the Tomball Economic Development Corporation's planned business park. The TEDC will be responsible for paying the bond payments.

Kauffman also reported that the city was ready to accept a proposal to build the long-awaited restroom facility at the Depot Plaza. Council agreed to award the contract to KBR for an amount not to exceed $183,000.

Magnolia resident Thomas Reynolds took first place in the Hushpuppy Eating Contest presented by Snookie's Fish Camp & Grill at the recent "Rails & Tails Mudbug Festival" in Tomball. Snookie's owner Rachael Holyfield looks on as Reynolds finishes off another one. Tomball Marketing Director Mike Baxter said that more than 2,400 pounds of crawfish, 300 pounds of shrimp and 100 pounds of alligator were consumed by the record crowd of nearly 7,000.

The Tomball ISD Board of Trustees is inviting the public to an open house and reception honoring Superintendent John Neubauer, May 22, from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at the John P. Neubauer Administration Building, 310 S. Cherry St. Neubauer is retiring in June, after 46 years with the district. For details call 281-357-3100.