The State audit
cover page provides the table of contents for most of the following documents:
- September
1, 1999: Sandra Venegas writes a letter to Dr. Gustavo Martinez, CEO
of the Life Management Center (LMC). In the letter, she communicates a "strong
interest to serve as a consultant." She offers research services --
produces charts and graphs -- "for a sum of $2,000 paid monthly for
a renewable period of one year." The bottom of the letter is initialed
"SV/jp." It appears Jaime Perez may have written the letter himself,
and initialized it.
Sandra Venegas is the maiden name for Sandra Sariñana, wife of
Luis Sariñana -- who was then serving as a member of City Council;
and at that time, the LMC was operated through an interlocal agreement
between the City of El Paso and the County of El Paso.
- September
10, 1999: Sandra Venegas signs a contract with Dr. Gustavo Martinez
and the Life Management Center for "consulting services."
- October
8, 1999: Sandra Venegas is paid $2,000 for a month of services. The
invoice has a handwritten note: "Please Rush." Sandra Venegas'
listed address -- 516 1/2 Mouer -- is a near match
for Sandra V. Sariñana -- at 516 Mauer Rd.
- November
29, 1999: Sandra Venegas' contract appears terminated. The exact same
agreement as the Venegas contract is signed between Jorge Olmos of Sun Circle,
Inc. and Dr. Gustavo Martinez, CEO of the Life Management Center.
While Sun Circle, Inc. is not a corporation registered with the State
of Texas, auditors retrieve documents
from the Secretary of State identifying: The Sun Circle: Wirrika (Huichol)
Native American Community Church. Sun Circle is one of many registered
businesses operated by Jaime O. Perez.
- January
10, 2000: An invoice for $6,000 is submitted to the LMC covering the
months of November, December, and January. While Section 4.2.1 of the Sun
Circle-LMC contract stipulates a payment of $2,000 per month of services,
the contract itself was not signed until November 29. Furthermore, it is
impossible that services for January have been completed.
In addition, the January invoice is sent from Sun Circle's Compliance Officer,
Jack Alayyan
-- who was also employed as the "Grant & Contract Coordinator"
for the County of El Paso's Community Development Department. In appears
that Jaime Perez, at this time, was also working for the County of El Paso,
either as a "Self-Help
Coordinator" or as Assistant
Director (see yellow Post-It™) of the Community Development Department.
- January
14, 2000: Sun Circle is paid $6,000 at 7600 Franklin -- Jaime O. Perez's
home
address (top of the list).
- February
1, 2000: A second invoice is submitted by Sun Circle's Jack Alayyan
to the Life Management Center. Again, Sun Circle is billing for February
services at the beginning of the month, rather than at the end.
What is also interesting about this document is the handwritten initials
belonging to Jack Alayyan. The handwritten initials for the February invoice
do not match the handwritten initials for the January invoice. In addition,
the "J" on the February invoice does match the "J"
belonging to Jorge Olmos on the original Sun Circle, Inc. contract. Click
here
to see the documents side by side.
- February
3, 2000: A check request is processed for Sun Circle in the amount of
$2,000. The work completed by Sun Circle is identical to that produced by
the Venegas contract: "MH
Performance Measures FY '99-00" (368 kb) and "MR
Performance Measures FY '99-00" (537 kb).
- May
18, 2000: The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation
(TXMHMR) announces that a state team will assume the management responsibilities
of the board of the Life Management Center (LMC) in El Paso. The press release
further states: "In response to specific complaints by LMC staff and
the public regarding governance and management of the Center, MHMR conducted
an audit of LMC in February of this year and released a report of the findings
in April."
- May
23, 2002: The state formally commits to running the Life Management
Center, renamed the El Paso Psychiatric Center.
- August,
26, 2003: Jaime O. Perez is awarded a contract
by Mayor Wardy and City Council to serve as a "research and policy
analyst."
