LCISD Bribery and Corruption Charges Dismissed

Richmond, TX -- Fort Bend County District Judge Brady Elliott dismissed felony charges against two elected officials and a Houston-area businessman.

The charges stemmed from a six-month investigation conducted by the Fort Bend County Sheriff into accusations of bribery and influence peddling by current and former members of the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District.

Anna Gonzales, a current trustee of the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, and Jesse Torres, a former school district trustee and current Richmond, TX city commissioner, are accused of allegedly accepting and soliciting financial gifts, payments and campaign contribution from contractors who did business with the school district.

The charges against Anna Gonzles date back to 2013 when she and Jim Gonzales, no relation, allegedly opened a joint bank account. Jim Gonzales, an employee at construction company IDCUS' Houston office, allegedly deposited $15,800 in the account.

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Anna and Jim Gonzales also jointly rented an apartment in Rosenberg, a town about 3 miles southwest of Richmond. On the rental application Anna Gonzales listed her place of employment as IDCUS and her supervisor as Jim Gonzales.

In 2013, Anna Gonzales ran for and was elected to the Lamar CISD board of trustees. During that election, Jim Gonzales allegedly campaigned for her. In 2014, Anna Gonzales was appointed to the board's facilities committee, which oversees construction contracts.

In May 2014, Jim Gonzales allegedly deposited almost $170, 000 in Anna Gonzales' personal bank account. Over the next six months Anna withdrew $10,000 to cover day-to-day expenses. She then withdrew the remaining funds and gave them to Jim Gonzales who deposited them in his account.

In June 2015, the Lamar CISD was set to vote to authorize the district's superintendent to negotiate a bond management contract with construction company Gilbane, which had hired IDCUS as a subcontractor. At the June board meeting a newly elected board member made an unsubstantiated allegation that Jim Gonzales offered him and another board member envelopes full of cash to vote in favor of the contract.

The allegations were made while the new board members, and members of the audience, were railing against the amount of money the district was paying to Gilbane for construction and management services. From 2004 to 2014, the company received $23 million from the district.

A former district superintendent also accused Jim Gonzales of having a long history of using misconduct and conflicts of interest to get sweetheart deals for Gilbane and IDCUS.

The vote came down 4-3 against the new contract, but board records indicate that Anna Gonzales, despite her relationship with Jim Gonzales, did not recuse herself.

Torres, who was not on the board at the time the allegations were made concerning Gilbane, was accused of soliciting campaign contributions in a tangentially related incident. The Sheriff alleged that Torres took received $2,500 in campaign contributions from employees of architecture PBK, which had designed many of LCISD's buildings.

All told, there were 16 charges brought against Jesse Torres and Anna and Jim Gonzales, and all but three were thrown out.

Anna Gonzales is still accused of gift to public servant and coercion of a public servant and Jim Gonzales is accused of offering a gift to a public servant. All three of the pending charges are Class A misdemeanors.

All charges against Jesse Torres were dismissed.