WASHINGTON — Latin Grammy winner and Texas House Democratic candidate Bobby Pulido once bragged about getting his longtime bandmate Frankie Caballero, who went on to be convicted of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl, “out of jail,” The Post has learned.
Pulido told comedian Jose Luis Zagar on a May 2019 YouTube show that Caballero — who had at that point served four years in prison for indecent sexual contact with an eight-year-old girl — was a “master” keyboard player.
“He can do anything with the accordion,” the singer said, according to a translation by Laura Rodriguez O’Dwyer of ProntoTranslations, who also works as a New York State court interpreter. “But get this, they locked him up.”
“I remember when I started out, I went to get him out of jail,” Pulido added, without referencing what charge. Other translators indicated that the word for “jail” was a slang term that could be interpreted as “prison” or the colloquial English “slammer.” It’s unclear whether Pulido visited Caballero in a prison or a jail.
The resurfaced interview suggests Pulido’s knowledge of his bandmate’s criminal history was more extensive than his campaign previously stated — and just the latest instance in which his music background has drawn scrutiny in a close race with his GOP opponent.
Court records indicate Caballero posted bail — either through a personal recognizance bond, surety bond or with cash — after several arrests between 1990 and 2000, as Pulido was ramping up his music career.
The accordionist was also sentenced to four years in prison in May 2014 for indecent sexual contact with a minor that resulted in Caballero registering as a sex offender — but that didn’t stop him from touring with Pulido after his release, The Post previously reported.
The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other outlets have all cited the report in articles highlighting Pulido’s repeated appearances at quinceañeras, a Latino coming-of-age ceremony for teen girls.
Pulido, who is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz in Texas’ 15th Congressional District this November, did not specify to which charge he was referring in the Zagar interview, but his campaign previously acknowledged the singer was aware of Caballero’s drug problems.
A Pulido campaign spokesperson said that the musician’s comments were meant to convey having given Caballero a chance to perform but did not clarify whether he picked him up from a jail or prison. “Bobby Pulido did not post his [Caballero’s] bail,” the rep added.
“This desperate smear campaign won’t distract South Texas voters from the fact Monica voted to gut their healthcare, raise their grocery bills, and drive up gas prices,” the spokesperson also said.
Rene Ortega, Jr., a bondsman and member of the Hidalgo County Bail Bond Board, said that “clerk’s records typically won’t show the name of a bondsman’s client, because that’s a private transaction. But if someone bypasses a bondsman and bails the defendant out directly, their name should be on the bond paperwork.”
As Pulido was launching his career in the mid-1990s, he recruited Caballero to play in the band that recorded the Tejano singer’s debut album, “Desvelado” — months after the accordion player had been released on a personal recognizance bond in a June 1994 sex assault case, according to court documents.
A July 18, 1994, court filing for the sex assault case reveals that Caballero was let out of jail without having to fork over any bail — on the condition that he would be ordered to pay the court $75,000 “in the event I fail to appear and violate the conditions of this bond.”
A former Hidalgo County prosecutor said that the personal recognizance bond in a felony rape case was “outrageous” and “only could have happened with the blessing of the DA’s office.”
Caballero was only held for 10 days over the alleged sex assault — from July 8 to July 18, 1994 — before being released. When he was released, the bond record listed his employment as a musician playing with Arturo Montes.
Pulido has recounted how Caballero joined him in the studio in January 1995 to record the singer’s first album, one month before a Hidalgo County grand jury indicted him for the second-degree felony.
The pair toured together in support of the “Desvelado” album, and they can be seen on stage in a November 1995 appearance on KGBT-TV’s “Aquí Rogelio” show.
Three months earlier, Cabaellero had landed back in jail for nine days on a charge of stealing a lawnmower before he was released without having to pay bond again. That resulted in a 15-day sentence and a $100 fine.
The duo collaborated on other studio albums while Caballero had the sex assault indictment hanging over his head before the charge was dismissed by county prosecutors on April 12, 2000.
Pulido’s great-uncle, Rene Guerra, served as Hidalgo County District Attorney from 1982 to 2014, and his name appears on the court papers requesting the dismissal, which a judge granted.
When contacted, Guerra could not recall details of the case but said either he or the first assistant prosecutor in his office would have had to approve the dismissal.
“The DA’s office, as a general policy, we would not dismiss a sexual assault,” he said.
“Now, if the victim came forward and had some inconsistencies on stories and what have you — whether it was a date rape or a relationship — well, those cases were probably given a harsher look as a matter of policy, OK, depending on motivation, relationship and what have you.”
“We did extensive attempts to corroborate,” he added.
Guerra also said his great-nephew Pulido had never retained Caballero as a permanent employee and only used him as a contract player.
“I don’t know that you’re gonna find a better person who’s compassionate than Bobby, OK. And I know because I’ve seen it,” he continued, recalling Pulido’s time studying music in college while recovering from a broken leg.
Asked about federal campaign finance records showing he donated $3,500 to his relative’s campaign, Guerra added: “Oh yeah, and I’m gonna donate some more.”
Over a three-decade period, Caballero was also charged in Hidalgo County with driving while intoxicated, cocaine possession, the 1994 sex assault, indecent sexual contact with a minor and assault on a family member by strangulation.
The assault by strangulation resulted in a five-year prison sentence, but he was credited with 747 days of previous jail time, allowing him to be paroled out in January 2026.
Cocaine possession charges were dismissed in 2009 as part of a plea agreement involving a federal charge for transportation of an unlawful alien from Mexico into the US. A judge sentenced him to 27 months.
Driving under the influence earned Caballero a 30-day sentence and a $350 fine.
Pulido’s campaign manager Abel Prado has said the singer was never aware of Caballero’s appearance on the sex offender registry but knew his on-again, off-again bandmate “long struggled with addiction issues.”
Pulido’s manager, Jimmy Montez, severed ties with Caballero after learning of his criminal history in 2021.
The accordion player was jailed in January, February and October of that year, per Hidalgo County court records.
A Jan. 8, 2021, court record shows that Caballero, when paying bond for charges of failing to comply with his sex offender registration duty, listed his employment as: “Bobby Pullido [sic] Band.”
In public performances and interviews, Pulido has mentioned Caballero’s run-ins with the law, saying in a March 2024 interview that it was a “shame” his bandmate “just can’t stay out of trouble.”
At the time of that interview, Caballero was sitting again in a Hidalgo County jail on new charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact dating back to May 2020. Those were dismissed too, according to Hidalgo County jail records.
In a recent leaked audio recording reported by Punchbowl News, De La Cruz suggested that her campaign’s internal polling has shown her leading Pulido by just one percentage point, a report to which the Democrat’s campaign also drew attention in its statement.
A De La Cruz campaign rep said it was “absolutely pathetic” for Pulido’s team to “talk about some poll” after having “spent decades knowingly bringing a serial predator around our families.”
