CORPUS CHRISTI — The car screeching down Elesa Street on Thursday hopped the curb near where I was standing and stopped.
The man, who identified himself as Edward Turnbull Sr., approached me and my photographer, Manuel Venegas Jr. asking why we were there.
We were there to get more information about 361 Grants .
On Tuesday, KRIS 6 News received several phone calls about the company running out of El Barrio Food Pantry at 816 South 19th Street.
Staff claimed they help people apply for grantsand other types of financial assistance.
The staff said the grants could be used to help people in times of hardship, or those needing help with home repairs.
One of the home repair grants 361 Grants advertises, can award up to $10,000, they said.
However, in order to begin the process, they charge a $150 fee to process the application.
Moments before Turnbull arrived, I approached a fence of a home on the 800 block of Elesa Street.
“If you don’t get off of my (expletive) property, I’m going to shoot you in the (expletive) face,” a man’s voice could be heard over a loudspeaker. “Get the (expletive) off my property.”
I told him we were on the sidewalk which wasn’t his property. Then I asked if it was Edward and that we were looking for Edward.
“You have nothing to discuss with me,” the voice said. “I have an office manager for that same (expletive) reason you stupid (expletive) (expletive). Get off my (expletive) property before I shoot you.”
My photographer called the police after we were threatened at the home, which was listed as a location for 361 Grants.
Turnbull approached me questioning why we were there.
I told Turnbull that I had spoken to Linda Muñoz, the 361 Grant's office manager, at their location at the El Barrio Food Pantry on 19th Street the day before.
She said some people who applied for a $10,000 grant for home renovations, would have to pay a $150 application fee.
“Which is given to the grant writer,” Muñoz said.
When I asked her how many people had been awarded or had received that money—she couldn't give an answer.
"I don’t know specifically how many,” Muñoz said. “We know that a lot of award letters have gone out, if they have been approved.”
“That all falls under Rosie and Linda,” Turnbull said. “Why Rosie and Linda didn’t have the answers? Because, she should have that there. Where they come from, who it is.
"We are just going to go ahead. They are going to go ahead and refund all their money and refund their money and cancel their grants out," Turnbull said. "So if they’ve already been approved, they cancel the grant and not get it and then give them their money.”
Turnbull was there at the time of the interview with Muñoz Wednesday, but would not give us an interview
After the airing of the original story,KRIS 6 News received an email from a viewer with an award letter attached.
The letter stated the person had been awarded $31,000 and the money will be disbursed on Jan. 5, 2023.
Although the letter wasn’t signed, it listed Todd Hunter as the executive director.
“It’s absolutely not me,” Hunter told KRIS 6 as a crew caught up with him in Austin on Thursday.
“Channel 6 actually gave me a copy of the letter. I’m not an executive director of anything and so that is not me. I don’t know anything about the organization,” Hunter said.
