McALLEN, Texas - Two former elected members of the School Board of Donna and a private citizen who served as a middleman were sentenced today for accepting bribes in connection with a services contract held by the Donna Independent School District (DISD), announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Eloy Infante, 54, Elpidio Yanez Jr., 45, and Adrian Guerrero, 50, all from Donna, were sentenced to 46, 37, and 18 months, respectively. The defendants pleaded guilty in January 2016 to attempted interference with commerce by extortion. Infante and Yanez were both members of the Donna School Board when they committed the attempted extortion. U.S. District Judge Randy Crane imposed the sentences.
In connection with their pleas, the defendants admitted that from February to May 2015, they attempted to extort, and solicited and accepted bribes from, an individual whose company provided services to the DISD. Specifically, the defendants informed the individual that in order for his company to keep its services contract with the DISD, he needed to pay Infante and Yanez $10,000 each, they admitted. Both Infante and Yanez admitted they accepted partial payment of the bribes, and Guerrero admitted that he served as the middleman for one of the payments.
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Leo III Trial prosecuted the case along with Trial Attorney Monique Abrishami of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
