Steve Sambrano and Ramiro Guzman, two prominent El Paso business leaders, pleaded not guilty to bribery charges in South Texas yesterday (Wednesday, April 3).

They were indicted March 25 in the Southern District of Texas, McAllen Division, on charges of bribing officials of the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district in order to receive contracts for two elementary schools and a maintenance building between 2000-2004. [view indictments via the links below the article]

The lawyers for the two, Sheldon Weisfield of Brownsville for Sambrano and Joe Spencer of El Paso for Guzman, each said their clients pleaded not guilty today, and declined further comment.

Weisfield said the next court action would be May 3 before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa.

The indictment alleged that Guzman, hired by Sambrano to be a consultant for SamCorp, the construction company owned by Sambrano, "purchased and caused the purchase of items of value for and to the benefit of various public officials at PSJA-ISD."

Sambrano, according to the indictment, "caused reimbursements to be made out of SamCorp accounts to Defendant Guzman for items of value purchased for and to the benefit of various public officials at PSJA-ISD."

On June 6, 2007, the McAllen Monitor reported the indictments of seven people, board members and other school officials. [monitor article]

The article stated that the FBI first raided school district offices and the homes of board members in 2005.

The article quotes the El Paso Times as reporting that "the seventh unnamed contractor is El Paso-based SamCorp, a commercial construction company. SamCorp built the PSJA administration building, San Juan Elementary and South Pharr Elementary, according to Sam-Corp’s Web site."

The Times article quoted Sambrano as saying that "We did work with those people. There were a bunch of contractors. None of our guys were indicted. We didn't do anything wrong.”

The McAllen paper reported that "Contractor bribes to school board members included gambling vouchers, paying for prostitutes, and trips to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Houston and San Antonio, according to the indictment."

Sambrano is listed as president of the Associated General contractors of El Paso on the AGC Web site. [agc website]

The Web site for SamCorp did not appear to be functioning Wednesday night. [samcorp website]

A 2006 El Paso Times article called SamCorp "one of El Paso's largest contractors."

The El Paso Times this morning reported that SamCorp built several schools in El Paso, "including the recently completed Aoy Elementary School in South El Paso."

Guzman is a director for the El Paso Electric Company, and owner of Ramiro Guzman & Associates, according to this Forbes profile. [profile]

Related Documents: