Woman received arrest notice and fined $700 for selling tamales

A Carrollton, TX mother is stunned after receiving a “warrant arrest notice” in the mail because of her tamales. Dennise Cruz recently found a yellow postcard from the City of Carrollton stating she needed to call the court or she could find herself in cuffs.

“That has to be wrong. I don’t have any tickets under my name. That’s just my first reaction. Never would have I thought, tamales,” said Cruz. “To know that somebody can be arrested over that, that to me is unbelievable.”

A few months back, Cruz decided to whip up some masa, steam up some corn husks and post on Nextdoor she was selling tamales.

“It’s just so common. That’s why to me, I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal,” said Cruz.

But it was a big deal and carried $700 fine with the offense.

“When it hit me, I was like that is a lot of money,” said Cruz.

When she called the city, a clerk told her someone reported her for not having a food permit to sell the tamales.

“I don’t understand because if anything I would have rather them come to me first if they had any concerns,” said Cruz.

Carrollton Environmental Services said it takes food borne illnesses very seriously.

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