BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A former South Texas juvenile justice department employee was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing $1.2 million worth of fajitas with county funds.

Gilberto Escamilla, 53, who worked at the Cameron County Juvenile Justice Department, was arrested in August after a driver from Labatt Food Service in Harlingen called the department's kitchen and said he was delivering an 800-pound order of fajitas, the Brownsville Herald reports.

“It was selfish. It started small and got bigger and out of control,” Escamilla told the court Friday. “It got to the point where I couldn’t control it anymore.”

Escamilla pleaded guilty to theft by a public servant.

Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Peter Gilman asked visiting state District Judge J. Manuel Banales to give Escamilla a 50-year sentence to send a message that theft by public servants warrants a long prison sentence.