Border corruption--Laredo area officials plead guilty

LMTonline:
Former Webb County Commissioner Jaime Canales and former Laredo City Councilman Johnny Amaya pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit bribery in a federal court in Houston.

Hours before the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the guilty pleas, Webb County said Canales had submitted his letter of resignation as Precinct 4 commissioner.

Canales and Amaya are both out on bond, with sentencing hearings set for Feb. 14. They face up to five years in federal prison.

These charges are connected to the FBI's search of the Webb County Courthouse and Laredo City Hall in April 2017, according to an official with knowledge of the case. Canales and Amaya, who is also a former Laredo ISD school board member, were listed among others as "target subjects" in these search warrants. Canales' office was the only one searched at the county courthouse.

From January 2015 to January 2017, Canales accepted checks disguised as campaign contributions, plus meals, entertainment and the use of a co-conspirator's Padre Island condo — together totaling "well in excess of" $5,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release issued Thursday night.

These gifts from an unnamed individual intended to influence and reward Canales for his official acts as a Webb County commissioner and representative on the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the release states. The Metropolitan Planning Organization, made up of TxDOT and elected city and county officials, makes decisions on transportation projects in Laredo and Webb County.

Amaya owned JAUC Service Inc., and he was employed by an unnamed co-conspirator as a consultant for "Corporation A," the news release states.

"In this role, Amaya met and spoke with various Webb County and City of Laredo officials to direct them to take actions that benefited the co-conspirator and corporation. Amaya maintained close contact with officials who could help the conspirator and corporation by setting up meetings and passing messages to and from the conspirator," the release states. "Amaya admitted he acted as a middleman between the conspirator and public officials.

"Amaya also supported specific candidates in the November 2016 election cycle by providing rental cars, drivers and gas cards for those rental vehicles to transport voters to the polls, all for which the corporation paid."
...
There is more.

The story does not indicate the party affiliation of the two, but Democrats usually dominate this area of the state.   There are also allegations that Amayo had mishandled operations of the city's water treatment plant where ecoli was found in the drinking water.

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