Ex-SISD trustee set to admit guilt today [El Paso Times, Texas]

Aug. 22--Charles "Charlie" Garcia, the former Socorro Independent School District board president accused of accepting bribes in exchange for his vote for a local health insurance provider, is scheduled to plead guilty today in federal court.

Garcia is one of 11 people charged in a scheme of bribes and kickbacks to obtain government contracts for Access HealthSource, and is also listed among 39 government witnesses expected to testify against former SISD board member Willie Gandara Sr.

Gandara, who is also a former Socorro mayor, is the sole defendant who will go to trial on Sept. 4 before U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo. Nine others have pleaded guilty to various fraud, bribery and RICO charges. RICO is the federal Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Garcia is charged with racketeering conspiracy, frauds and swindles and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. It was not clear Tuesday which charge he will plead guilty to.

Federal prosecutors allege Garcia accepted bribes from Access HealthSource disguised as campaign contributions. Voters ousted Garcia from the school board in 2008 after he voiced support for then-SISD Superintendent Sylvia Atkinson.

Those who have already pleaded guilty are former Access president Francisco "Frank" Apodaca, former El Paso County Judge Luther Jones, former El Paso County District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez, former National Center for the Employment of the Disabled spokesman Marc Schwartz, lawyer David

Escobar, former Ysleta Independent School District board Trustees Linda Chavez and Milton "Mickey" Duntley, former city Rep. and County Commissioner Larry Medina and former Socorro Independent School District Trustee and former Socorro Mayor Raymundo "Ray" Rodriguez.

Sanchez and Jones are scheduled to be sentenced on Friday. Each is serving a six-year prison sentence in an unrelated public corruption case.

The others are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20.

Apodaca, Rodriguez and Schwartz are also expected to testify against Gandara, along with former El Paso city Rep. and mayoral candidate Raymond Telles, former Bear Stearns managing director Roberto "Bobby" Ruiz Jr., El Paso lobbyist and political consultant Antonio "Tony" Dill.

Ruiz pleaded guilty in December 2007 to four counts combined of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and a scheme to bribe elected officials.

Dill pleaded guilty in June 2008 to conspiring with others to bribe a member of El Paso County Commissioners Court. Telles pleaded guilty in March 2008 to two counts of mail and wire fraud for attempting to bribe El Paso County commissioners and Socorro school trustees.

None of them have been sentenced yet.

Also named in the government's witness list is Hector Zavaleta, a former financial adviser for First Southwest. Zavaleta resigned from First Southwest in 2007 about the same time his lawyer announced that he had been cooperating with the FBI in its public corruption investigation.

Other potential witnesses include former SISD Superintendent Robert Duron, Clint Independent School District Superintendent and former SISD human resources director Ed Gabaldon, former SISD board member Barbara Perez-Pena and current SISD board member Craig Patton.

Gandara is scheduled for a evidentiary hearing on Thursday before Montalvo. Among the items prosecutors want to present as evidence at trial are campaign contribution reports, transcripts of SISD board meetings, emails, text messages and recorded phone conversations.

Adriana M. Chavez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117. Follow her on Twitter @AChavezEPTimes.

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