Former NCED Officials Arrested Tuesday Post Bond

EL PASO — Robert “Bob” Jones,former CEOof the now-renamed National Center for the Employment of the Disabled, or NCED, posted $500,000 bondWednesday after a hearing on a five-count indictment that was unsealed Tuesday.

Jones, Patrick Woods and Ernie Lopez, all former NCED officials, were arrested Tuesday morning on fraud charges related to NCED.

In Wednesday’s hearing before Judge Richard Mesa, Jones was charged with five counts and Woodswithfour. The charges involved making false statments to a mortgage company.

Woods posted $150,000 bond after the hearing. BothWoods and Jones are barred from leaving the county and must turn over their passports. Jones has a curfew of 11 p.m.

For the charges revealed Wednesday, both Woods and Jones could face up to 30 years in prison and up to one million dollars in fines.

A 37-count indictment was issued on October 9, 2008,naming Jones, Woods and Lopez.The five-count indictment was issued on September 25, 2008. Lopez was only indicted on the37-countindictment andwas released earlier in the dayafter posting bond.

According to the37-count indictment, released Tuesday, all three men face several charges “related to the embezzlement of millions of dollars in government program funds.”

After a federal investigation foundthat NCEDviolated rules regarding the employment of disabled people in 2006, Jones resigned.

The indictment alleges the three menschemedto lie to the Senate Committee for Purchase from the Blind and Severely Disabled and falsely claimed NCED was in compliance with the Javits Wagner-O’Day Act (JWOD).

The act requires that any employer receiving no-bid government contracts to have a workforce that consists of at least 75% disabled people.

NCED never employed sufficient numbers of blind or severely disabled workers to qualify for JWOD contracts, according to the indictment.