Mena Pleads Not Guilty To Corruption
EL PASO, Tx- Former El Paso School Board trustee Sal Mena has entered a plea of not guilty to an eight count corruption indictment.
That’s according to our news partners at newspapertree.com.
He’s accused of taking bribes in exchange for votes.
Mena is the first person we know of to be indicted in this case and enter a plea of guilty.
Nine others — many elected officials — have pled guilty to to their roles.
In the indictment, the federal government said Salvador Marcos “Sal” Mena, Jr., took bribe money in exchange for his vote and in some cases stashed it in a desk drawer in his office until he learned about the federal government’s public corruption investigation, at which point, the government says, he took it to a safe deposit box at his bank.
The following nine who authorities have publicly charged pleaded guilty to informations:
*John Travis Ketner, the former chief of staff for County Judge Anthony Cobos.
*Former County Commissioner Elizabeth “Betti” Flores; Bernardo Lucero, a local contractor who had contracts with EPISD.
*Former EPISD trustee Carlos Cordova.
*BearStearns employees Christopher Pak and Bobby Ruiz, who admitted to trying to rig bids for county contracts.
*Local businessman Raymond R. Telles, who said he tried to bribe officials on El Paso County Commissioners Court and the Socorro ISD Board of Trustees.
*Local lobbyist Anthony Dill.
*Fernando Parra, a well-connected EPISD computer technician who was originally arrested on pornography charges.
Representatives of the Federal Government have said in the past that informations are often used when a person has been cooperating with the government, but indictments are frequently used when that person hasn’t been cooperating.
Stay with ABC-7 and KVIA.com for complete coverage of the on-going public corruption investigation.
