The guilty plea entered last November by 80-year-old Carlos Villa Cordova, a former El Paso school trustee known to many as “Coach,” to a single charge that included taking bribes was a sad surprise to those who knew and had worked with him for years.

Last month, on orders of Federal District Judge Frank Montalvo, a redacted version of the transcript of the closed court hearing at which he entered his plea was made public.

It was one of the eight carefully and extensively edited transcripts of the closed hearings of the seven defendants who pleaded guilty after the first defendant, John Travis Ketner, the former chief of staff to County Judge Anthony Cobos, did so in June 2007.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof asked Montalvo to release the redacted transcripts last month, as part of a motion her office filed in response to the lawsuit Newspaper Tree and El Paso Media Group.

Newspaper Tree and Media Group sued to intervene in the public corruption cases in August to gain access to future court hearings and to transcripts, court documents and other documents that Montalvo had sealed, some at Kanof’s request.

With many important details edited out, Cordova’s transcript still contains some interesting details of what he admitted to doing and how he was handled by Montalvo and the U.S. attorney’s office in court.

The rest of the transcript with the statements laying out how the schemes transpired and who bribed Cordova for exactly what reason has been replaced by lines of capital Xs, some long, some with a few letters, and will probably remain that way until after Cordova is finally sentenced.

It looks like this series of statements by Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof in Montalvo’s closed court on Nov. 28, 2007 regarding the charge:

“It alleges just one count and the county is a conspiracy count. But it alleges that the conspiracy had three legal objectives. One was wire fraud, another was mail fraud, and the other was the deprivation of the right to your honest services. Basically, what it is saying is that with regard to XXX … XXX that he gave you cash.

THE DEFENDANT: Yes

MS. KANOF: And that the cash was in exchange for your vote and for basically talking XXXX up and supporting XXXX and being a friend to XXX … XXX.

“And as a result of that, you did vote to support XXXXXXXXXX. In this particular instance, though, to your benefit there, was no loss XXX … XXX the El Paso Independent School District.”

Cordova, a former school teacher and coach, served two stints of four years each on the El Paso school board and was known throughout the district as Coach Cordova.

The district even named a school after him, but in the middle of a passage containing 10 redacted lines in the transcript of his hearing is this from Kanof:

“XXX … he wishes for his named to be removed from Cordova Middle School, XXX …”

Kanof read the brief factual basis for Cordova’s guilty plea at the closed hearing and what is not redacted reveals that his illegal dealings go back to his first term in 1995.

He admits taking cash from individuals and not reporting that money as campaign contributions in exchange for “supporting and voting in favor of XXX …”

“Specifically,” it goes on, “the defendant accepted cash money from XXX … XXX and others.

“The defendant did not report these monies as campaign contributions. These cash bribes were provided to defendant Cordova for his support and vote in his official capacity as an EPISD trustee in securing XXX …”

The documents states that someone – a company or an individual – began paying Cordova bribes amounting to $3,000 and that he received a total of $5,000.

“On Feb. 15 of 2007, while under surveillance by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, XXXXXX met the defendant at Carlos & Mickey’s Restaurant … where he handed the defendant a white envelope containing $500 in cash as part of the continuing agreement for the defendant to vote for XXX …”

The factual basis reveals some of what has gone on in the investigation, which would be no surprise to anyone who watches TV cop shows.

It states at one point that FBI agents “engaged the assistance of various cooperating witnesses and co-conspirators who agreed to wear a concealed audio recorder while speaking to other targets of the investigation.

“Conversations were recorded between the defendant and a cooperator – or multiple cooperators on Jan. 23, 2007, and on Feb. 7 – 15 of 2007.”

It also describes how a cooperator assured Cordova that he would continue to help him.

“The cooperator explained that ‘help’ meant cash bribes,” the document states.

As he did at all of the guilty plea hearings, Montalvo delivered some personal words of advice to Cordova, but his comments to the elder man were different from the others:

“Mr. Cordova, let me say something to you, sir, before I let you go today. You have an opportunity to redeem yourself and to have a peaceful death, to go to your grave with a clear conscience.

“You have that opportunity in front of you now.”

Montalvo then explained the terms of Cordova’s release on a $10,000 signature bond and on relatively unrestricted terms, except that travel to Mexico was barred.

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To reach David Crowder, write to dcrowder@epmediagroup. or call (915) 351-0605

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