An El Paso tax office deputy who worked at an authorized contract office was arrested Sunday in El Paso, Texas, on 10 counts of tampering with governmental records, the El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office said, according to KFOX14. The office identified her as Jessica Marie Alonzo. She was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility on a total bond of $50,000.
Investigators in the office’s own Enforcement Division allege she altered records in the state vehicle-registration system to bypass Texas inspection and emissions requirements.
What the office says the records show
The office said its records show more than 380 transactions were altered between July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. The changes allegedly let vehicles that had not passed required inspections, or had no current inspection record, be registered or have title transfers processed. Some of the vehicles had no inspection record going back to July 2013, KFOX14 reported.
Investigators also reviewed Zelle payment records showing Alonzo collected thousands of dollars. The office said it could not determine whether every payment was connected to the alleged fraudulent transactions, and the reports I reviewed give no total. Spread evenly over the 12 months, 380 transactions works out to about 32 a month, or roughly one and a half per weekday. The office has not said how they were actually distributed.
Which inspection the records skipped
The reports refer to “inspection and emissions requirements” together and do not say which one each altered record bypassed. The state’s rules narrow the possibilities. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that since January 1, 2025, non-commercial vehicles no longer need a safety inspection before registration. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles says 17 counties, El Paso among them, still require non-commercial vehicles to pass an emissions inspection before they can be registered. DPS says commercial vehicles still need a safety inspection everywhere.
So for an ordinary passenger car or pickup in El Paso County during the window the office describes, the inspection standing between the owner and a registration was the emissions test. That reading is mine, not the office’s, and a commercial vehicle would be a different case. The test itself is cheap: DPS lists the maximum fee for an El Paso emissions-only inspection at $11.50. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says El Paso’s program began January 1, 2007, and checks model-year 1996 and newer gasoline vehicles through their onboard diagnostics. A car that passes costs its owner $11.50 or less. A car that fails costs whatever the repair costs. TCEQ says waivers and time extensions exist for eligible owners.
TxDMV also says inspection records can be verified electronically. That puts the check in a database, so the check is only as reliable as the people with permission to edit it. The allegation is that a deputy at an authorized contract office used her access to change the record.
How Texas grades a tampering charge
The offense is defined in Section 37.10 of the Texas Penal Code, which covers knowingly making a false entry in, or a false alteration of, a governmental record. Under subsection (c)(1), the offense is a Class A misdemeanor unless the person’s intent is to defraud or harm another, in which case it is a state jail felony. A state jail felony carries 180 days to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000 under Section 12.35.
The reports do not say which grade each of the 10 counts carries; the charging documents would. Intent to defraud or harm is what separates the two grades, and the payments are the part of the investigation that would speak most directly to it, though the office has said it cannot tie every one to the altered transactions.
The second title case from this county office in a year
Last November, The Auto Wire reported that El Paso officials arrested a dealership owner and two employees over alleged fraudulent title transfers after the tax office flagged irregularities in the paperwork. Texas has spent years closing other gaps in vehicle paperwork too, including the end of most temporary paper tags. The two El Paso cases involve different mechanisms. The dealership case centered on what a dealership submitted. This one alleges edits made inside the registration system by someone with access to it.
What happens next
The office said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed. It also said Alonzo is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. No defense attorney or statement from Alonzo appears in the reports I reviewed.
The reports leave open what happens to the vehicles tied to the 380-plus transactions. The office has not said whether those registrations and title transfers will be voided or the vehicles sent back for testing. Tax Assessor-Collector Ruben Gonzalez said, “When an allegation involves one of our own employees or agents, our commitment to transparency does not change.”
Should outside contract offices that process vehicle registrations have the same access to the state’s registration system as county employees, or should any change touching an inspection record require a second person’s sign-off?