Two more plead guilty in PSJA bribery case

McALLEN -- Contractors should share just as much blame for the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district bribery scandal as the indicted elected officials, a federal judge said Monday.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa indicated he may not follow prosecutors' recommendations to consider the business leaders minor players when sentencing them in the bribes-for-votes scheme that governed lucrative school construction and maintenance contracts for years within the school system.

"The public officials wouldn't be taking bribes if business wasn't paying them," he said. "The people out in business are profiting from this even more than the officials."

Hinojosa's remarks came as two more men pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges for offering thousands of dollars in kickbacks to four former school board members and ex-superintendent Arturo Guajardo.

Steven Sambrano, 49, and Ramiro Guzman, 62, both of El Paso, admitted Monday to giving officials sports tickets, plane rides, hotel rooms and more than $100,000 in cash to secure their votes for business with the district.

Between 2000 and 2004, the PSJA board awarded Sambrano's El Paso-based construction firm, SamCorp, contracts to build two elementary schools and a maintenance facility.

Guzman, a contractor working for the company, delivered the bribes and was later reimbursed from SamCorp's corporate accounts, prosecutors said.

The gifts included:

>> A four-day trip to Las Vegas in September 2003 attended by then school board members Rogelio Rodriguez, Raul Navarro and Guajardo, which included complimentary plane tickets, meals and admission to an Oscar de la Hoya boxing match.

>> Accommodations for an NCAA Final Four game worth an estimated $14,000 in hotel and ticket costs.

>> Clothing purchased for Rodriguez and Navarro.

But school district officials may have demanded the bribes up front before they were offered by SamCorp, Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Eastepp suggested Monday.

"To be fair, the hooks had been set and they were being reeled in," he said.

Sambrano and Guzman's guilty pleas came as part of an agreement with prosecutors that shielded SamCorp from federal prosecution.

The company has since filed for bankruptcy amid demands from creditors seeking millions of dollars, Sambrano's attorney Sheldon Weisfeld said.

The men are the fifth and sixth contractors to admit guilt in the case, which has spanned three years and four separate indictments.

Only one indicted contractor - construction consultant and Donna school board member George Hernandez - has maintained his innocence. He is set to go to trial in March.

Sambrano and Guzman each face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines at a sentencing hearing scheduled for April.

____

Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.