The case of Concepción Escobar Campos, a police officer assigned to the Municipal Public Security Secretariat who disappeared on September 2, 2022, came to light after an internal investigation by the Mazatlán City Council detected payment transactions linked to her payroll, even though her missing person report remains active and her whereabouts are still unknown.
Escobar Campos was 56 years old when she was last seen around 8:00 p.m. in the Pino Suárez neighborhood, back on September 2nd, 2022. Since then, there has been no news of her location.
Her name surfaced during an administrative review initiated by the current municipal administration after it detected inconsistencies in the cashing of checks for City Hall employees. Public Denouncement of the Case
The situation was brought to light during a City Council session by councilwoman Maribel Chollet Morán, who denounced alleged acts of corruption within the municipal government and questioned how that procedure could continue to be validated in the name of a missing employee.
According to the PRI councilwoman, individuals involved presented letters of survival supposedly signed by Escobar Campos, documents that were endorsed by the Human Resources department to allow the release of payments.
Chollet Morán indicated that at least six people were linked to these irregularities and demanded that the City Council disclose how much public money was spent under this scheme.
Furthermore, she asked municipal authorities not to disclaim responsibility by arguing that these are practices inherited from previous administrations. A formal complaint has been filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
During the session, the municipal treasurer, Julio César Ramos Robledo, confirmed that a formal complaint had been filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and explained that the irregularity had been detected after a review implemented following the installation of a validation system for in-person check cashing.
The official detailed that upon assuming office, they found that a significant portion of the payroll was still being paid in cash. Therefore, in November of last year, a control mechanism was implemented to verify the identity of those collecting their checks.
It was in January that they detected four unclaimed checks, which led to a more thorough review.
The investigation revealed that one of the cases involved a person who had been missing since 2022 and whose missing person report remains active.
Ramos Robledo reported that two or three individuals have been identified as directly responsible, including two police officers and a person assigned to the Payroll Department. The latter has already been suspended, while the City Council awaits the Public Prosecutor’s determination of the corresponding legal responsibilities.
He specified that the City Council filed the complaint on April 14 for the alleged crimes of breach of trust and document forgery, after gathering the necessary evidence from the internal investigation.
Source: OEM
