Judge criticizes plea as Handy heads for sentencing

McALLEN — U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa has publicly questioned prosecutors from the bench as to why they didn’t file tougher charges against former Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner Sylvia Handy.

In setting Handy’s sentencing for July 9, the judge again expressed frustration over trying to reconcile the testimony he has heard in court with requirements set out under complex federal sentencing guidelines.

Handy pleaded guilty in March to one count each of tax fraud and conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants, stemming from allegations she put at least five undocumented women who worked as her domestic servants on the payroll of her Precinct 1 office to avoid paying them out of her own pocket.

But during two days of hearings after Handy presented a document that ostensibly lent credence to her claim that she has knowingly done no wrong, Hinojosa heard testimony he says shows that other charges such as embezzlement were more fitting for Handy’s alleged crimes.

“That’s the problem with charging this way,” Hinojosa told prosecutors Tuesday regarding their decision to go after Handy for tax fraud or harboring illegal immigrants. “Some of these allegations may not fit these (sentencing) guidelines. They were not written for this fact pattern.”

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rodriguez has urged the court to send Handy to prison for up to six years.

In determining Handy’s sentence July 9, Hinojosa will use the federal scoring system that takes into account factors including a defendant’s criminal history, role played in a crime and whether the defendant accepts responsibility for her actions.

The federal sentencing guidelines set out a more transparent system than when judges determined a sentence of their own accord, Hinojosa said Tuesday, but they also set out a clear directive on what can and cannot be taken into account.

In one example from the presentencing hearing, Hinojosa quizzed Rodriguez on how he determined the actual loss to the government from the single tax credit she claimed for child care services from one of the undocumented immigrants on the county payroll.

Under the sentencing guidelines, the judge said, the government’s loss might only be the $1,200 value of the tax credit Handy claimed. The prosecution called for the women’s $18,000 salary to be taken into account.

In another instance, Hinojosa and Rodriguez discussed whether Handy harbored each of the illegal immigrants on the county’s payroll or just the ones who lived at her Weslaco estate.

The judge and the prosecutor did agree on the extent of Handy’s attempts to obstruct justice.

Hinojosa said the erstwhile elected official obstructed justice first when she instructed the undocumented immigrants to lie to investigators; again when she tampered with witnesses after her indictment by offering them free concert tickets; and a third time when she asked the court last week to consider a purported letter of confession from one of the undocumented workers.

The latest stratagem resulted in a two-day hearing in which that missive’s alleged author — Beatriz “Betty” Garcia, who worked on the county payroll as Handy’s personal babysitter and housekeeper — told the court that Handy asked her to claim what amounted to a false letter of confession.

Witnesses testified Handy wrote the original confession on a typewriter, burned the ribbon to destroy the evidence and instructed Garcia to retype the confession on her own computer.

The prosecution also played a recording of a discussion between Handy and another illegal immigrant, Maria de los Angeles Landa-Hernandez, in which Handy describes how Garcia agreed to shoulder the blame.

Hernandez told the court she secretly recorded the meeting because she feared Handy would try to finger her as the culprit. But Hernandez also testified that she was on the county payroll even when she was cleaning Handy’s garage, trimming the fronds on her palm trees and doing other odd jobs at Handy’s house.

Hernandez continued to fill out a time sheet and collect a county paycheck for her mother — another undocumented immigrant who worked exclusively as Handy’s babysitter — even after Handy had fired the mother. Hernandez said she gave all the cash from her mother’s county paycheck to Handy.

The testimony was clear evidence of embezzlement, Hinojosa told prosecutors Monday following Hernandez’s statements.

But on Tuesday as the judge prepared for sentencing, he was only concerned with tax fraud.

“What’s charged here is tax evasion,” Hinojosa said. “We’re not here for embezzlement.”

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.