Reporter's note: Originally posted at about 9:15 a.m. today, this article was revised later in the morning and the afternoon to more accurately reflect the intentions of defendant Patrick Woods regarding the charges against him.
Robert E. “Bob” Jones, the former president and CEO of El Paso’s National Center for Employment of the Disabled, is negotiating a guilty plea with the government to charges contained in a 37-count indictment handed up in October 2008.
The disclosure came at a routine hearing this morning before Federal District Judge Phillip Martinez for Jones, NCED's former board president Patrick Woods and the nonprofit's former chief operating officer, Ernesto "Ernie" Lopez.
“We’ve been in ongoing negotiations for sometime now and I think we’ll be ready in the next 30 days,” Jones’ lawyer Joe Spencer said afterward in reference to his client only.
Spencer stood in for Woods' lawyer, Jim Darnell, at the hearing, and said Woods and his lawyer were negotiating with the government. News media representatives in the courtroom understood that to mean that Woods, like Jones, was attempting to negotiate a plea agreement.
Spencer later clarified the situation, saying, "Bob Jones and the government have entered into plea agreement negotiations. ... I have no information that Jim (Darnell) is doing any ongoing negotiations as I am.
"We have entered into negotiations. I can't say that for Woods."
Martinez set the next hearing for announcements in Jones and Woods' cases for 8 a.m., July 29.
At its peak in 2005, NCED – now known as ReadyOne Industries – employed 4,000 workers and had more than $250 million in federal defense contracts intended to employ the severely disabled.
That year, the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce recognized Jones with its "Entrepreneur of the Year" award.
The federal investigation that began after questions arose about NCED’s operation nearly brought the nonprofit corporation down.
Lopez lawyer wants to see justification for FBI wiretap
Representing Lopez in the hearing, attorney Mary Stillinger made it clear in court that she and her client are not prepared to begin negotiations on a plea agreement.
Before the hearing, Stillinger filed a motion on behalf of Lopez asking the government to unseal documents filed in support of FBI wiretaps on the cell phone of Marc Schwartz, the former spokesman and crisis manager for NCED and ReadyOne.
Under law, she stated, Lopez is an "aggrieved person" because his conversations were recorded by the government. (Download a copy of her motion below)
"Mr. Lopez, as an 'aggrieved person,' has the right to challenge the legality of the government's wire tap. ... Without any of the documents related to the wiretap, however, he is unable to evaluate the legality of the wiretap."
Stillinger says in her motion that she spoke to lawyers in the U.S. attorney's office about her interest in seeing the justification for obtaining a court order authorizing the wiretap of Schwartz's phone and was told that the government would oppose any motion she filed for the information. Schwartz was one of three individuals whose conversations the government intercepted with wiretaps early in the investigation.
"The delay in filing this request was occasioned by the government's opposition and its consideration of that factor in potential negotiations," the motion states, indicating that the request could affect the prospect of plea negotiations.
Stillinger later explained, "There are legal requirements to get a wiretap, but the only way to evaluate the validity of the order authorizing a wiretap is to see it.
"I have the conversations ... but I don't have the probable cause."
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To reach David Crowder, write to dcrowder@epmediagroup.com or call (915) 351-0605, ext. 30
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