Hernandez, 66, is accused of accepting cash, jewelry, and travel from people working for a school district insurance carrier and a paid independent insurance consultant for her influence on the district’s board of trustees and her vote on numerous insurance services contracts awarded to the companies with whom the co-conspirators had a financial interest.
SAISD Board trustee Olga Hernandez arrested in bribery, kickback scheme
Hernandez accepted cash, jewelry, travel, feds say
By David Ibanez – Web – Managing Editor
Posted: 1:28 PM, February 16, 2017Updated: 2:48 PM, February 16, 2017
SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Independent School District Board Trustee Olga Hernandez was arrested Thursday on federal charges in connection with a bribery and kickback scheme.
Hernandez, 66, is accused of accepting cash, jewelry, and travel from people working for a school district insurance carrier and a paid independent insurance consultant for her influence on the district’s board of trustees and her vote on numerous insurance services contracts awarded to the companies with whom the co-conspirators had a financial interest.
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The federal indictment named the co-conspirators as Samuel Mullen, chief financial officer of the Mullen Pension & Benefits Group, LLC; Joshua Cerna, vice president of strategic markets for the Mullen Group; and William Haff, a paid independent insurance consultant.
The scheme happened from March 2008 to May 2015, federal officials said.
Hernandez is scheduled to make an appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon.
If Hernandez is found guilty on the charges, she could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
“We are very saddened and disturbed by this news. Since I have been here working with the board, they have demonstrated a commitment to act with the upmost integrity, to focus on our students and build trust with the community. We are waiting to find out more information, and will be following it closely,” SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez said in a statement.
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San Antonio Express – News
By Guillermo Contreras, San Antonio Express-News
Updated 3:31 pm, Thursday, February 16, 2017
Heredia was arrested in October 2012 on charges that he sold his truck to the Zetas drug cartel and smuggled the proceeds into the US. In an October hearing, an FBI agent testified that Heredia took kickbacks to give out county contracts, sent county equipment to work on private construction projects and traveled to Mexico for sex tourism.
Read more: Corruption costly for Maverick residents
SAISD board member Olga Hernandez (left) and then-board president Ed Garza talk during a meeting in 2015. Hernandez was indicted Wednesday, accused by federal prosecutors of influencing school district insurance contract decisions after accepting free trips to Las Vegas paid for by an insurance broker who pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge last fall.
Olga Hernandez, a San Antonio Independent School District board member, was arrested Thursday, a day after a federal indictment charged her with at least one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.
Hernandez allegedly took trips to Las Vegas, among other things, paid for by insurance brokers and consultants in an attempt to influence SAISD insurance contacts, federal sources said.
Her lawyer, Alan Brown, confirmed her arrest.
“She’s innocent of these charges,” Brown said. “She’s a public servant and always did what was best for the district and the students. She was very conscientious about it.”
Brown said the charges stem from statements by Samuel Mullen, an insurance broker who pleaded guilty in November to a charge of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, admitting he bribed a consultant for area school districts for inside information to help win insurance contracts.
The consultant, William Haff, also has pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy, which lasted from 2007 to 2014, records show. A third co-defendant, Joshua J. Cerna, a former board member of Harlandale Independent School District, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge for having a role in the scheme when he worked as vice president of strategic markets for Mullen’s firm, the Mullen Pension & Benefits Group.
Hernandez now is being accused of having a role in that conspiracy, Brown said.
“A lot of this is meetings where she was sitting in (with Mullen or his associates) and listening to factual things to learn more about them and help the district and the children better,” Brown said.
Brown called Mullen “an alcoholic and a liar.”
Check back for more on this developing story.
gcontreras@express-news.net
