Local businessman implicated in El Paso scandal
McALLEN — Roger Garza, a local businessman and longstanding member of the McAllen Public Utility Board, has been implicated in an FBI investigation into bribery and corruption in El Paso County.
Garza, owner of the McAllen consulting firm Valley Risk Management, was named in a federal search warrant served last month to a total of 22 individuals and businesses. Others named include El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos, two El Paso County commissioners and Arturo “Tury” Duran, the former U.S. commissioner to the International Boundary and Water Commission who left the agency less than two years after President Bush appointed him.
The warrant came a month before El Paso County Chief of Staff John Travis Ketner — who ran Cobos’ county office — pleaded guilty June 8 to fraudulently helping vendors secure contracts with the county.
“We don’t know what it’s about. … We just responded to the request for qualifications (for consulting services),” Garza said.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met (Ketner). I think he just took his Rolodex and threw it out there, going from A to Z. It’s sad that I got caught up with that.”
U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Daryl Fields did not return calls for comment.
Ketner resigned from his position in May, just days after the FBI raided the El Paso County Courthouse and numerous offices and residences.
Ketner waived his right to a grand jury and was charged by the U.S. attorney’s office via an “information” document that alleged he and 17 unnamed co-conspirators were involved in a conspiracy that included backroom cash payouts, secret campaign contributions and rigging court cases.
Valley Risk Management, which has contracts with McAllen and Sharyland school districts, had unsuccessfully bid for a consulting contract for El Paso County’s health benefits services earlier this year, according to the El Paso Times.
“Why aren’t they interviewing the guy who won the contract?” Garza said. “It’s totally devastated my family, destroyed my reputation. You want to sit there and scream but there’s nothing you can do.”
Garza said he traveled to El Paso in January to meet with Cobos about the upcoming contract to consult on the county’s health benefits. He said he never met Ketner but later registered a complaint with the county after his proposal failed to make the short list for the contract.
Valley Risk Management hired Duran, the former IBWC head, in April to handle marketing in El Paso after the firm’s failure to secure the consulting contract, Garza said. Duran’s home and offices were raided by the FBI in May, according to the El Paso Times.
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James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.
