Longest Federal Prison Term in El Paso Corruption Investigation Handed Down to Former Aliviane CEO Cirilo ‘Chilo’ Lara Madrid

In El Paso this morning, former Aliviane chief executive officer Cirilo “Chilo” Lara Madrid was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for conspiring to embezzle federal program funds, announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Mark Morgan.

In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Frank Montalvo ordered that Madrid pay a $100,000 fine and be placed under supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term. Judge Montalvo also ordered that Madrid, along with his co-defendants, jointly and severally pay $550,000 restitution to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Last month, Judge Montalvo sentenced Madrid’s co-defendants. Former L.K.G. Enterprises Inc. (LKG) president Ruben “Sonny” Garcia, Jr. received four years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft or embezzlement of federal program funds. Judge Montalvo also sentenced LKG to five years’ probation during which time the corporation is prohibited from receiving any government contract.

“Mr. Madrid’s sentence today should send a clear message to the community that we will not tolerate abuse of the American taxpayers or corruption of our institutions of government. The next time someone with such intentions thinks it’s ‘business as usual’ in El Paso, they should remember the 15 years that Mr. Madrid will spend in federal prison,” stated U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman.

In December, a jury convicted Madrid of one count of conspiracy to steal or embezzle federal program funds, one substantive count of theft of embezzlement of federal program funds, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and the deprivation of honest services. Evidence presented before the jury revealed that Madrid and Garcia conspired to pay a total of $24,000 in bribes to former El Paso County Judge Dolores Briones for her help and assistance to LKG with an El Paso County contract it was awarded to evaluate a health program for severely mentally handicapped and emotionally disturbed children in El Paso County. The program, Border Childrens’ Mental Health Collaborative (BCMHC), was funded by a five-year federal grant valued at over $9 million. Furthermore, evidence revealed that Madrid and Garcia caused fraudulent reports to be mailed to SAMHSA reflecting that they were satisfying the grant funding requirements.

“Today marks the end of a long and dark chapter in a sad story in which public confidence was shattered by a group, to include Mr. Madrid, who were entrusted to serve the needs of mentally challenged children but instead used their influence to feed their own personal greed. Today’s sentencing of Mr. Madrid also marks the continued commitment of the FBI to aggressively pursue individuals who have violated the public’s trust by holding them personally accountable for their self-serving acts,” stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Morgan, El Paso Division.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Juanita Fielden and William F. Lewis, Jr. are prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.