Joe Frank Garza, the former South Texas district attorney who paid himself and three of his staff members more than $1.2 million from drug seizure forfeitures, pleaded guilty to felony charges today in Jim Wells County.
Prosecutors for the state Attorney General’s Office said said Garza has agreed to repay $2.16 million to Jim Wells and Brooks, the counties he represented as district attorney, surrender his law license and pay a fine of $10,000.
Garza is scheduled to be sentenced May 6. Prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to 10 years probation and to serve 180 days in the Jim Wells County Jail.
A Jim Wells County grand jury in August indicted Garza on charges of misusing more than $200,000, but Armando Barrera, Garza’s successor, determined through an audit that the actual amount was more than $2 million, paid to himself and to people in his office he referred to as "my eyes and ears in the community" between 2002 and 2008.
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Prosecutors for the state Attorney General’s Office said said Garza has agreed to repay $2.16 million to Jim Wells and Brooks, the counties he represented as district attorney, surrender his law license and pay a fine of $10,000.
Garza is scheduled to be sentenced May 6. Prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to 10 years probation and to serve 180 days in the Jim Wells County Jail.
A Jim Wells County grand jury in August indicted Garza on charges of misusing more than $200,000, but Armando Barrera, Garza’s successor, determined through an audit that the actual amount was more than $2 million, paid to himself and to people in his office he referred to as "my eyes and ears in the community" between 2002 and 2008.
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Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org.
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Photo of a gavel by flickr user mrbill, used via a Creative Commons license.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feed in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, NewsVine and tumblr.
Photo of a gavel by flickr user mrbill, used via a Creative Commons license.
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