11:44 PM CST on Tuesday, March 7, 2006

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

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The investigation into mayor pro-tem Carol Alvarado's office is far from over.

If you have been following the City Hall probe, you know that the Office Of Inspector General (O.I.G.) was completed and sent to the district attorney's office last Friday.

But what you may not know is the Inspector General's office is limited as what it can investigate.

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Sources said the bogus bonuses come down to Rosita Hernandez and Carol Alvarado.

Sources tell 11 News that elected officials are "off limits", meaning that the mayor pro-tem, who temporarily stepped aside Monday, could not be thoroughly investigated.

For example, the O.I.G., 11 News was told, looked into the bank accounts of the four employees who worked for Alvarado, but not hers.

Sources said that in fact, the district attorney's office will start a whole new investigation into the unauthorized bonuses scam that has been plaguing city hall for weeks.

And now it could be many more weeks before the known facts are taken to a grand jury.

Tuesday, all four employees involved were officially let go by the city.

Each made their way to the fourth floor of City Hall where they received the expected news.

Only Rosita Hernandez stopped to speak afterwards. Actually, her attorney Walter Boyd did the majority of the talking and said his client wants her job back.

"You bet. She's gonna fight for it," Boyd said.

He says Hernandez is innocent

"Well, the other side of the story is going to come out but I think what you have been hearing up to this point is elected officials posturing to make sure that their underlings, if you will, are the ones that ultimately are held responsible," Boyd said.

And sources told 11 News the bonuses that totaled more than $143,000 come down to Hernandez and her boss Alvarado.

Hernandez said Alvarado knew and approved the bonuses.

Alvarado said she did no such thing.