Former Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo Sentenced to Federal Prison

In San Antonio this morning, a federal judge sentenced Former Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo to 30 months imprisonment on federal bribery and income tax related charges, announced U.S. Attorney John Bash; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division; and, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Goss, Houston Field Office. 

In addition to the prison term, Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra ordered that Galindo, 55 of Selma, TX, pay $876,000 restitution and be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term.  Judge Ezra allowed Galindo to remain on bond pending notification by the Bureau of Prisons where to surrender to begin serving his prison term.

“Today’s sentence is another example of this office’s determination to root out public corruption in Texas government,” stated U.S. Attorney Bash.

“The sentence handed down today demonstrates San Antonio FBI’s firm commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to address public corruption and hold corrupt officials in Reeves County and other jurisdictions accountable,” stated San Antonio FBI SAC Combs.  “While the vast majority of elected and appointed officials faithfully serve the interests of the public, there are some who violate the public’s trust, and serve their personal interests instead.”

On June 12, 2017, Galindo, pleaded guilty to a criminal Information charging one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of failure to file income tax returns. 

Galindo served as County Judge for Reeves County from January 1995 through December 2006.  Galindo, on behalf of Reeves County, negotiated a contract with a company owned by Vernon C. Farthing, III, of Lubbock, TX, to provide medical services for inmates located in the Reeves County Correctional Center.  Galindo signed the contract on September 13, 2006.  The Information alleges that Galindo conspired with Farthing and former District 19 Texas State Senator Carlos Uresti to ensure that Farthing’s company was awarded that contract. 

To secure the contract, the Information states that Farthing agreed to hire Uresti as a “consultant” and pay him approximately $10,000 a month.  Uresti, in turn, agreed to pay Galindo one-half of the money he received from Farthing’s company.  From January 2007 until September 30, 2016, Uresti paid Galindo approximately half of the monies Uresti received each month from Farthing.  The Information also alleges that Galindo failed to file individual income tax returns for the years 2004 to the present.

Uresti received five years in federal prison for his role in the scheme.  Last year, a federal jury acquitted Farthing of all charges.

The FBI encourages the public to continue to support our active and ongoing efforts to deter and prevent corruption by reporting such activity to the FBI’s Public Corruption Hotline, 1-800-CALL-FBI.

The FBI’s Pubic Corruption Task Force conducted this investigation. The Task Force is comprised of investigators from the FBI, IRS-CI, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Peace Corps-Office of Inspector General.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. Blackwell, Sean O'Connell, William R. Harris and Mark Roomberg prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.