Jury Selected In Public Corruption Trial Of Former NCED Employee

Eight women and four men were chosen as jurors on Monday, the first day of the trial for Ernesto Alonzo Lopez.

He’s the man accused of public corruption and scheming to fraudulently obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. federal government.

Prosecutors and Lopez’s defense gave their opening statements on Monday.

The prosecution is trying to prove Lopez knowingly participated in a scheme to land some lucrative no-bid contracts from the government.

Lopez is the former Chief Operating Officer for the National Center For The Employment Of The Disabled or NCED. Over nine years NCED was awarded $834 million under a program that would fund american companies who offered employment to the severely disabled. The prosecution is alleging while at NCED Lopez lied to get the money, and that only 8-percent of it’s workers met the criteria as disabled, not 75 as mandated.

Mary Stillinger, Lopez’s defense attorney told the jury during her opening statements that Lopez is a hard working man who was simply doing what he was told by his then boss Bob Jones. Jones had already pleaded guilty to similar charges.

Jones was mentioned in a list of possible witness that wil testify in the trial, and so was former El Paso Mayor Joe Wardy who took over NCED ones the allegations against Jones initially came out.

The trail continues Tuesday morning before the Federal Judge Frank Montalvo.