DALLAS — A special task force led by the FBI is launching a sweeping probe of public corruption in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the agency said.
The task force includes FBI agents, Texas Rangers, Customs and Border Protection Internal Affairs, Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, and the Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, among others.
"We're going after school boards, county commissioners, tax assessment offices, health care fraud, anywhere public money is received," FBI Supervisory Special Agent Rock Stone told the San Antonio Express-News. "There is an inherent public trust in those offices and they must be held to a higher standard."
FBI agent Michelle Lee told The Bond Buyer that the municipal bond community will not be off-limits.
"We will be looking at all possible public corruption matters that may fall within the FBI's investigative responsibility," Lee said.
One recent scandal involving the use of bond money occurred in the South Texas city of Progresso, where an architect was charged with conspiracy and bribery as part of Progresso Independent School District investigation.
Architect Jesus Bustos is accused of having money delivered to Progresso ISD board member Michael Vela in exchange for contracts. Bustos is free on $100,000 bond. Vela and his brother, the mayor of Progresso, were both convicted.
A former Cameron County district attorney was recently sentenced to 13 years in prison for a corruption scheme that led to charges against a state district judge and former state representative.
"There seems to be a general concept down here that things are the way they are and nobody is going to do anything about it," Stone told the Express-News. "That is especially true in these small communities where you have a single gatekeeper, or several members of an extended family in elected positions."
Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz launched a public integrity unit in 2013, netting a guilty plea in April from a county commissioner on coercion of a public servant.
Stone said the Rio Grande Valley Border Corruption Task Force already has several cases underway.
A similar investigation in El Paso County lasted for more than seven years and recently concluded after several top officials, including the county judge, two county commissioners, local school board members and others pleaded guilty to bribery and related charges.
That investigation led to convictions of two bankers with the defunct Bear Stearns investment bank and mention of other financial advisory services firms in court documents.
"While our task force was not structured to replicate any other public corruption task force, our investigations may eventually target similar corrupt activity," Lee said.
The Rio Grande Valley, where business is often transacted across the border with Mexico, has long had a reputation for corruption.
The investigation comes on the heels of Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott's controversial comments deploring practices of the South Texas region.
"This creeping corruption resembles third-world country practices that erode the social fabric of our communities and destroys Texans' trust in government," he said in a videotaped speech in Dallas.
