The public corruption case is very complex and involves the legal, political and business communities of El Paso. Newspaper Tree presents stories, primary documents and some reading about public corruption cases elsewhere to provide a little context.
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Nine people have pleaded guilty to public corruption charges, and one has been indicted. Here are their guilty pleas, filed in the form of a document called an "information":
-- Betti Flores
-- Bobby Ruiz
-- Chris Pak
-- Tony Dill
-- In addition, Sal Mena became the first person to be indicted, on Aug. 14. His indictment became public when he was arrested Aug. 29. [indictment]
-- Tuesday morning (Oct. 14, 2008), Bob Jones and others connected to NCED were arrested. From a public standpoint, the public corruption investigation that has seen nine individuals plead guilty to charges and one indicted began with the April 2006 search warrant raid by three federal agencies on NCED’s Eastside headquarters and main plant on Allen Bradley. [link]
Here are the NPT stories regarding their pleas:
-- Travis Ketner, June 8, 2007
-- Betti Flores, July 7, 2007
-- Bernardo Lucero, Aug. 17, 2007
-- Carlos Cordova, Nov. 28, 2007
-- Bobby Ruiz and Chris Pak, Dec. 21, 2007
-- Raymond Telles, March 18, 2008
-- Tony Dill, June 18, 2008
-- Fernando Parra, July 15, 2008
-- Fernando Parra hearing, July 15, 2008 (see related stories below)
-- Sal Mena indictment and arrest, Aug. 29, 2008
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Some of the other court action revolves around efforts to disqualify one lawyer, efforts by another lawyer to disqualify the judge hearing the cases, a request to open files and proceedings by activist Carl Starr, and the indictment of a target on unrelated charges of child pornography:
-- Fernando Parra was arrested in February and charged with counts related to child pornography. An FBI agent testified at the bond hearing that the agency came across the pornography when searching Parra's computer. During the hearing, Parra's relationships with various politicians and other targets of the investigation came to light. [Feb. 6, 2008, Parra Indicted, Bond Granted, Then Appealed] [Parra indictment]
-- Carl Starr filed a lawsuit against the government in March to challenge the secrecy measures. “The level of public interest and concern with the substantial issues regarding corruption and administration of justice presented by the case cannot be overstated,” Starr wrote in his motion to intervene in the string of cases. [march 26, 2008 npt background] [motion to intervene] [may 12, 2008, closed courts, public corruption] [may 28, 2008, corruption court stays closed, but judge offers new information ]
-- Newspaper Tree filed in federal court to seek a hearing on opening files and proceedings. On Sept. 3 and 4, the government responded by requested that some files be opened. [aug. 6, 2008, npt files motion to open corruption court] [sept. 3, 2008, government pledges to open some corruption court documents] [sept. 4, 2008, government moves to open some corruption court documents ]
-- Lawyer Martie Jobe has filed a lawsuit against Travis Ketner, claiming he defamed her in his guilty plea. Then she tried to force recusal of District Judge Frank Montalvo, who is hearing the public corruption cases. [Aug. 7, 2007, Jobe argument] [Aug. 10, 2007, decision on the issue]
-- Montalvo disqualified lawyer Mary Stillinger from representing three clients who were called targets. They were Ysleta school district Trustee Mickey Duntley, El Paso school district trustee Charles Roark, and NCED Chief Operating Officer Ernie Lopez. In early July, Stillinger argued the case before the Fifth Circuit Court, and won the right to continue representing her clients. [July 27, 2007, disqualification] [Aug. 8, 2007, clarification of issues] [July fifth court transcript]
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NPT stories on various events and issues:
-- May 16, 2007, FBI raids county
-- June 14, 2007, FBI focuses on district clerk
-- May 18, 2007, explanation of search warrant process
-- June 29, 2007, business as (mostly) usual in the County Courthouse
-- Aug. 10, 2007, interview with District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez
-- Aug. 21, 2007, interview with FBI SAC Manuel Mora
-- July 24, 2008, What about Bob? Grand jury to convene soon, sources say
-- Aug. 8, 2008, Luther Jones, once a courthouse fixture, stays low key
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Although not linked to the El Paso case, a South Texas public corruption case involving some El Pasoans has some elements in common.
-- April 2, 2008, Business Leaders Sambrano, Guzman Indicted in South Texas
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Public corruption is prevalent in the United States, most often appearing in the news in relation to local politics. Some stories to provide context:
-- Christian Science Monitor writing in 2005 about Chicago
-- Wikipedia page on Orlando politician Ernest Page
-- Times-Picayune 2007 story about New Orleans
-- American Heritage magazine history of New York City corruption
-- Memphis Commercial Appeal writing in 2007 about a "culture of corruption" in Memphis
Juan Sandoval
October 14, 2008
As usual the Government is wasting their valuable resources on the little guys. The money that some of these people are accused of taking is nothing compared to what it costs, the citizens of this country, to adjudicate and incarcerate them. The real news should be the corruption on Wall Street that has crippled the country. Now those people are steeling by the boat load and of course the Government is wasting their time her in El Paso. I am by no way suggesting these people get of, but what happened to the punishment fitting the crime. It is true that we have the best justice system money can buy, unfortunately here in El Paso we cant buy much unless you are one of the elite and then no one will touch you.
Rey
October 14, 2008
I don't find that the time spent pursuing these crooked politician to be waste. Crooked Politicians lead to the puppeteers in our community.
Who are they? The behind the scenes power brokers involved in monopolizing our Cities prime real Estate. Developers building homes and larger Commercial Developers that have for years laid the seeds of campaign contributions. What have they done? We find that new developments/housing water hook ups have cost the taxpayers 200 million dollars of subsidies to these builders.
Further investigation will lead to a neutralizing of this corrupting influence. We now find the further indictments today. We need this to continue. The guilt to be scorned, jailed, their wealth seized, and their families impoverished. (Bob Jones will be required to return 59 million if found guilty.)
r.
Yes the corruption investigation will cleanse our city of the Cancer that is Corrupt politician awash in mis deeds with little regard for our Citizens.
Let the jails be prepared for all 88 potential crooks