A deputy who worked at an authorized El Paso vehicle registration office is facing 10 counts of tampering with government records after investigators say she altered 381 vehicle transactions over the course of a year to help drivers dodge Texas inspection and emissions requirements. Jessica Marie Alonzo was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility Monday on a $50,000 bond and was released the same day after posting bail.
The arrest came after an investigation by the Enforcement Division of the El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office, according to KVIA. Investigators allege Alonzo entered false inspection dates during transactions and manually overrode the state's registration and titling system to get vehicles past inspection and emissions checks that Texas requires before registration, per the El Paso Times. Alonzo worked at El Paso Auto Registration and Titling, known as EPART, a full-service deputy office authorized to process registrations and titles on behalf of the tax assessor-collector.
381 Transactions Span A Full Year
Investigators say Alonzo altered 381 transactions between July 2025 and July 2026, including 327 registration renewals and 54 title transfers, according to the same KVIA report. The altered records included vehicles with no current state inspection on file; 73 of the 381 transactions involved vehicles with current vehicle inspection reports. Some vehicles reportedly had no inspection history dating back as far as July 2013.
Documents obtained by ABC-7 detail nine of the 10 incidents related to the charges. Authorities allege Alonzo altered the records to let vehicles that failed state-mandated inspection and emissions tests get registered anyway, in exchange for money. Investigators also reviewed Zelle records showing Alonzo collected thousands of dollars in payments, though officials said they could not determine whether every payment reviewed was connected to an alleged fraudulent transaction.
Tax Office Leader Points To Accountability
The El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office announced the arrest. Ruben P. Gonzalez said public trust is built on accountability. Gonzalez said the office must ensure its laws and procedures are followed by everyone who works there, adding that the office's commitment to transparency becomes more important when allegations involve its own employees or agents.
Investigators said the broader probe remains ongoing and additional charges could still be filed, according to KFOX14, which also noted that Alonzo is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Part Of A Wider Pattern Across Texas Tax Offices
Alonzo's case echoes allegations elsewhere in Texas this year. In Travis County, two former tax office employees and an outside coordinator came under criminal investigation after an affidavit alleged they exploited county-issued login credentials to access the state's vehicle registration and titling system, as reported by KXAN. That affidavit estimated roughly 100 fraudulent transactions ran through one former employee's user ID, and financial records showed about $132,858.30 changing hands between two people named in the case between August 2022 and December 2025.
In Harris County, two former tax office employees and two business owners were charged in February with defrauding taxpayers out of tens of thousands of dollars through illegal vehicle registrations and title transfers, according to Click2Houston. Investigators there alleged the employees took bribes in money and gifts to override insurance verification, emissions inspections and residency checks, with one employee accused of processing 96 fraudulent transactions and another accused of charging 300 dollars per transaction, per Houston Public Media's account of the case, which traced the probe back to a Texas Department of Motor Vehicles alert about registrations advertised on social media.
