• Hilda Valadez weeps while testifying during her shock probation hearing.
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Hilda Valadez weeps while testifying during her shock probation hearing.
Hilda Valadez weeps while testifying during her shock probation hearing.
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Former defense attorney Hilda Valadez speaks with visiting Judge Stephen Able during her hearing for fraud on Sept. 12, 2014. She was granted shock probation.
Former defense attorney Hilda Valadez speaks with visiting Judge Stephen Able during her hearing for fraud on Sept. 12, 2014. She was granted shock probation.
Photo: Photos By Robin Jerstad / For The Express-News
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Hilda Valadez was known for garnering more indigent defense work than any attorney in the county.
Hilda Valadez was known for garnering more indigent defense work than any attorney in the county.
Photo: Courtesy of the Bexar County She
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Lawyer Hilda Valadez was the top-earning local court-appointed attorney in the past three years, taking in $403,000 for 478 cases.
Lawyer Hilda Valadez was the top-earning local court-appointed attorney in the past three years, taking in $403,000 for 478 cases.
Former lawyer Hilda Valadez, on probation since 2014 for defrauding Bexar County by forging judges’ signatures to overcharge on indigent defense work, was found dead at her residence Monday.
A woman called police after going to her apartment in the 20000 block of Huebner Road to check on her, a police report said. Valadez was in bed, “fully clothed, with her head on the pillow” and had evidently been there for some time, the report stated.
 
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Valadez was 55. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet determined a cause or manner of death.
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Police did not identify the woman who made the discovery. The report said she told officers she had not talked to Valadez in several days and that Valadez “had demonstrated suicidal behavior in the past,” and “had previously tried to overdose on pills.”
Officers found pill containers on a table in the living room but none near Valadez's body, the report stated.

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Valadez had made a name for herself with more court-appointed criminal defense cases for indigent clients than any other attorney in Bexar County until authorities found she repeatedly forged the signatures of three judges over a four-year period during which the county paid her more than $594,000.
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She pleaded guilty in March, 2014 to one count each of forgery and securing execution of a document by deception. Visiting Judge Stephen Ables commuted a 10-year prison sentence to probation after Valadez paid Bexar County $76,670, the full amount she owed in restitution.
Valadez had “an alcohol problem and had mental health issues that were not being addressed, which is why she was making bad decisions,” her attorney, Joel Hoelscher, said at the time.
Her probation officer had seen no indication in recent weeks that anything was wrong, Jarvis Anderson, chief probation officer for the Bexar County Community Supervision & Corrections Department, said Thursday.
Valadez was doing well on probation and “was happy and seemed upbeat” during her last in-person visit Sept. 7, he said. She last spoke with the officer on Oct. 12, said Anderson, who added, “It's tragic whenever anyone loses their life.”