Parra, who worked at the El Paso Independent School District, was arrested on three charges relating to receiving and possessing child pornography.
His arrest received a high level of media interest because of his potential connection to the FBI public corruption investigation. The immediate speculation in the legal community -- and among many NPT readers who sent in comments -- was that the charge was being used to pressure Parra into making a deal with prosecutors.
Parra worked in the office of District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez, and both were identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the guilty plea of former County Judge Anthony Cobos' Chief of Staff Travis Ketner. In the plea, Ketner described a system of rigging the computers in the district clerk's office that assign cases to various courts. [background article] ]ketner plea]
The motion to deny Parra bond was filed by the government Friday. In the motion (pages 5 and 6 via the link below this article), government lawyers claim that Parra is a flight risk because he has family in Mexico and that he told his employer he planned to travel to Brazil and would not provide contact information.
The government motion asserts that there are no conditions or combination of conditions to assure the community of its safety, or the court of Parra's appearance "at future court settings," if he is allowed out on bond.
"Wherefore ... the Government respectfully prays the Court to hold the above-named Defendant without bail pending the outcome of this case," states the motion.
Federal Judge Norbert Garney set Parra's bond hearing for Feb. 6.
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