State candidate claims conwoman AGAIN pilfered campaign account

In a move even more bold than her alleged victim could have anticipated, Texas District 22 candidate Christian “Manuel” Hayes reports that a Beaumont conwoman again pilfered from his campaign finance account in April – even after suspect Mary Bond was reported to local police and the Texas Rangers for stealing from Hayes’ coffers in February.

In February, Hayes and current District 22 Representative Joe Deshotel detailed a laundry list of fiscal crimes allegedly committed by Bond while she was working on Hayes’ campaign. Hayes said hardly any time passed at all before Bond drained his account of roughly $7,000, using campaign donations to bond herself out of jail for two criminal theft charges, as well as pay her rent, credit card bill and electricity bill. Deshotel said that he received a text message at the beginning of February from a spoofed phone number believed to be Mary Bond that indicated if Deshotel didn’t pay the $3,000 the texter claimed they were owed for working for Hayes in February, the texter would make sure there were repercussions for Deshotel, as well.

Hayes and Deshotel not only outlined the complaints for The Examiner, the pair also worked hand-in-hand with state investigators who are now taking a fine-tooth comb to any campaign money Bond has had access to over the years.

However, according to Hayes, despite the current investigation and the fact that Bond is out on bond for a host of other felonies including auto theft, the alleged career conwoman again absconded with money from the campaign that did not belong to her. From the bank reports for Hayes’ campaign finances for April – two months after he first filed theft charges against his former campaign worker – a trail can be traced from Hayes’ $3,000 to bills attributed directly to Bond – her child’s Catholic school tuition payment, a loan payment to Neches FCU, and a loan payment to Westlake Financial.

“My banker literally said, ‘The dummy put her name on it,’” Hayes explained of confronting his banking institution regarding a series of suspicious charges noted as campaign workers began filling out required campaign finance reporting for the month of May. “She stole money up until Election Day… and now the bank account has been closed.”

When Bond appeared in court on May 9, the theft suspect out on bond was arrested on site – due to yet another criminal complaint filed against her on April 19. Bond was allowed to then again bond out of jail – and stay out of jail – the judge ruled, since the allegations in the most recent filed charge reportedly took place before she was allowed to make bond on the felony charges pending in Judge John Stevens’ Criminal District Court.

Prosecutor Daniel Boyd said, at a May 17 follow-up hearing regarding Bond’s bond status, that there were additional charges pending against the accused, stemming from allegedly pocketing thousands of dollars during her employment at a Beaumont apartment complex. Specifics on that allegation, the prosecutor explained, could take months to reach a grand jury. According to Boyd, a forensic accountant is being utilized due to the massive amount of alleged theft that occurred during Bond’s tenure at the apartment complex.

How long the newest alleged theft from the Hayes campaign will take to reach a grand jury is uncertain. To the best of his knowledge, the February complaint Hayes lodged regarding theft at the hands of a woman he once trusted hasn’t reached a grand jury as of yet. But, also to the best of his understanding, Hayes is certain the alleged thief found a new way to separate him from his campaign money even after he already filed theft charges on her once before.

“She was telling people it was a mistake,” Hayes said as to Bond’s assertion that she never intentionally stole from his campaign finance account. “There’s no way this could be a mistake.

“No matter what she wants to say at this point, she stole more money from me.”

Hayes said the initial theft reported in February was allegedly linked to Bond’s access to his debit card and virtual currency accounts, so the District 22 candidate did not cancel his campaign checking account at the time.

“She never used my checks, she always used my debit card… but, apparently, some how, some way,” she found a way to use Hayes’ bank account anyway, he shared.

All charged in April, and all with notes that the payments were credited to Mary Bond accounts, Hayes detailed three big-ticket charges attributed to the woman who allegedly already misappropriated $7,000 of his campaign funds. Total theft attributed to Bond this go-round, Hayes said: $3,000. Total theft attributed to Bond to date, Hayes said: $10,000.

“Because of what happened last time, nobody has access to the debit card, nobody had access to the checkbook,” Hayes said, as following the February theft report, the state rep candidate was the only authorized payer on his campaign accounts. In March, there was nothing suspicious, Hayes said. But, with the outlay of a lot of money in April for the runoff campaign, the scattering of charges now attributed to Bond didn’t immediately set off red flags.

The first charge, $1,021.43 for Westlake Financial on April 8, was direct debited from his campaign checking account the same day he legitimately paid for campaign phone bills and commercials. The next charge, $1,826.72 made to a local Catholic school over the phone on April 15, was direct debited from his campaign checking account the same day he legitimately paid for campaign thank-you cards, gasoline and a website update. The next charge, a $500 wire transfer to Neches FCU for a loan attributed to Mary Bond, was paid by phone on April 29, the same time as bills for push cards and Home Depot supplies were taken legitimately from the campaign coffers.

“It would make sense … block walkers, push cards, volunteers … she’s doing all this stuff while we’re doing a lot of moving,” Hayes said, trying to make sense of it all – although it’s a senseless crime to him. “That’s how nefarious it is. You know she planned that. She had a Plan A and a Plan B on how to get money.”

According to Hayes, he once thought of Bond as a trusted friend – and he’s shocked at the current state of events.

“My family welcomed her with open arms. I loved her with open arms,” Hayes shared. Hayes said he told Bond that he would help financially if she needed it prior to the alleged thefts that keep adding up. “She stole from people she didn’t have to steal from.”

Bond is set for a hearing in Judge Stevens’ court the week of June 6, on the trial docket special set per judicial order with the jailed defendants up for review the same day. In addition to the pending charges prosecutor Boyd spoke of in May, the Beaumont Police Department and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office is in receipt of yet another potential theft charge for Bond’s June hearing, as Hayes visited with a Beaumont detective on June 1.

“I just feel terrible for the school and the church. It’s a different thing stealing from a candidate,” Hayes said. The charges attributed to Bond for the April thefts from Hayes’ account will be credited back to him – much to the chagrin of the debt collectors that Bond allegedly paid with Hayes’ money.

“If it has to be me she does it to, I’m fine with it because I’m going to do everything I need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else,” Hayes said leaving the Beaumont Police Department after filing theft charges for the April charges attributed to Bond. Hayes said he’s taken some flak for his decision to give Bond a chance to work for him in the first place, given her background. “I don’t regret giving her chance. I regret she took this chance and she threw it away.”