Texas Man Arrested and Charged with Bribery Conspiracy

McALLEN, Texas - A Weslaco man has been arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and other offenses in connection with a scheme to bribe a city commissioner in exchange for government contracts.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick made the announcement along with Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs of the FBI San Antonio Field Office and Acting Special Agent in Charge Sarah Kull of the IRS-Criminal Investigation (CI) Houston Field office.

An 18-count indictment filed in the Southern District of Texas and unsealed upon his arrest yesterday charges Richard Quintanilla, 51, with conspiring to bribe and bribing a Weslaco City Commissioner in exchange for official actions favorable to three engineering companies. According to the indictment, from approximately August 2011 through December 2016, the companies supplied Quintanilla with approximately $85,950 which was funneled through a co-conspirator. Quintanilla allegedly kept a portion of these payments and paid the remainder to a city commissioner. In exchange for these bribe payments, the indictment alleges that the city commissioner used his official position to benefit the companies, including by voting to authorize multi-million dollar contracts for water treatment facilities in the City of Weslaco. Quintanilla will appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter E. Ormsby today at 11:00 a.m.

The FBI and IRS-CI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Roberto Lopez is prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorneys Peter M. Nothstein and Jessica C. Harvey of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.