June 5, 2009
Former El Paso County Judge Luther Jones and District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez were indicted together on federal charges last week and turned themselves in this morning.
The five-count, sealed indictment released a little after 11 a.m. today contains two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and deprivation of honest services, one count of mail fraud and deprivation, and two counts of "bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and aiding and abetting." [Download the indictment below]
Both men, in an arrangement with the FBI to avoid arrest, turned themselves in to the FBI for processing at the federal building on Mesa Hills Drive.
Jones, 62, signed in at the building's security station at 8:25 a.m. and Sanchez, 41, was there before noon, but not before speaking to his staff in his courthouse office. [View the video at ABC 7]
He told them that he had received a call from his attorney last night, but "all I know is I've been indicted, and I will turn myself into the feds."
He joked that "my stomach has been rather upset ... the one benefit is, I lost a couple of pounds." He also said that "at least it's over. I know what's going on. The funny thing is, today is the statute of limitations of the case they are trying to prosecute me on."
The alleged crimes happened almost five years ago to the day.
Sanchez and Jones are scheduled for an initial court appearance before Federal Magistrate Richard Mesa at 2:30 p.m. today.
Jones' lawyer, Steve Peters, said his client will be cleared of the charges in court.
"I can tell you that while Luther Jones does not relish going through this process, he fully expects to clear his name of all the allegations, every single one of them," Peters said. "Luther Jones and his attorneys do not believe he has violated any law or done anything not in the best interest of the taxpayers of El Paso County."
Asked if the government offered Jones the opportunity to plead guilty to charges without an indictment, Peters said, "I can't comment on any discussions between us and the government."
In addition to Jones and Sanchez, three people have been indicted in the public corruption investigation and 11 have pleaded guilty to various charges, including the commission of and conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, bribery and deprivation of honest services.
Since leaving office in the early 1990s, Jones has become a behind-the-scenes political kingmaker and adviser who has recruited local city, county and school district candidates and helped many of them reach public office.
He was implicated along with Sanchez almost exactly two years ago when lawyer Travis Ketner, the chief of staff to County Judge Anthony Cobos, pleaded guilty to federal fraud and bribery charges contained in a document that listed 19 unindicted co-conspirators. [Public Corruption 101: The archives]
Ketner had resigned three weeks earlier, immediately after FBI agents searched the offices of Cobos and county Commissioners Miguel Teran and Luis Sarinana.
In the federal information, the document that outlined the charges to which Ketner pleaded guilty, Jones was clearly identifiable as John Co-Conspirator One (John CC-1).
The indictment: 5 counts
The indictment handed up by the federal grand jury May 28 and sealed until today begins with an introduction that cites Sanchez's election in 2002 and then recites a number of offenses under state law for accepting or soliciting bribes, misusing government property or personnel and soliciting or accepting a benefit from a person that a public servant knows is interested in a contract or transaction with the government.
Although neither Jones nor Sanchez is charged with any state offense, questions have been asked for years about why the public corruption investigation has been handled by the FBI and U.S. attorney's office instead of local law enforcement agencies in conjunction with the El Paso County district attorney's office.
The alleged conspiracy
The indictment states that beginning in about October 2003 and continuing until July 11, 2004, Jones and Sanchez conspired with others known and unknown to commit wire fraud by conspiring to deprive county residents of the honest services of Gilbert, an unnamed public servant referred to as a cooperating witness, and a member of county Commissioners' Court.
The public servant referred to is likely Fernando Parra, a former employee of the district clerk's office, and the former commissioner is probably Betti Flores. Both have pleaded guilty to charges related to the public corruption investigation and their future sentences for the offenses they have admitted to will depend on the extent of their cooperation with the FBI and U.S. attorney's office.
Jones, Gilbert, the two unnamed and unindicted individuals, probably Flores and Parra, and others allegedly did so by devising a scheme "to obtain money and property by means of material and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.
Specifically, Jones allegedly agreed to pay and did pay in "gratuities, travel and money, both in cash and in the form of campaign contributions" to Sanchez and other public servants.
Sanchez allegedly agreed to accept those bribes "in exchange for supporting and influencing in his official capacity" the award of a multimillion dollar contract between the county and a vendor represented by Jones.
The contract was to be for an electronic document imaging system and for its financing that, in the end, was not financed or purchased. Questions about the project to digitize court records led a majority of Commissioners Court to reject all bids and proposals for the contract.
The scheme and artifice to defraud
The indictment accuses Jones of offering Sanchez various bribes in exchange for his support in securing the digitization contract and accuses Sanchez of accepting those bribes.
The indictment alleges that Jones and Sanchez ordered a district clerk's employee who is a cooperating witness -- Parra -- to write the request for proposals for the digitization contract in a way that would give one vendor the advantage in securing the contract.
Jones and Sanchez allegedly offered the second cooperating witness, Flores, bribes in exchange for her support and vote on Commissioners Court.
Overt Acts
The indictment alleges that on Jan. 30, 2004, Jones entered into a contract with the preferred vendor in which Jones and another lawyer, who is not indicted, to represent the vendor and to receive one-third of the profit from the contract.
Ten days earlier, email allegedly shows, Sanchez sent Jones information about a Las Vegas Hotel where Jones offered to pay lodging expenses for Sanchez and Parra for their cooperation.
Jones allegedly paid Sahchez $750 and arranged a pay raise approved by Commissioners Court for Parra.
The indictment goes on to list occasions on which Jones paid or rewarded Sanchez.
On June 4, 2004 Parra allegedly structured a bid evaluation sheet for Commissioners Court to show who submitted the lowest qualifying bid, and three days later Sanchez and Parra allegedly provided the vendor's president with a copy of the evaluation showing his bid as the lowest for the contract.
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To reach David Crowder, write to dcrowder@epmediagroup.com or call (915) 351-0605, ext. 30 or (915)