A South Texas lawmaker has been found guilty of multiple crimes in a case involving allegations that he sold access to the legislature. The Austin American-Statesman reports the jury returned a verdict this morning for State Rep. Kino Flores (D-Mission).
A Travis County jury has found South Texas lawmaker Kino Flores guilty of multiple counts of tampering with a governmental record and perjury in connection with omissions Flores made on financial disclosure forms required to be filed by state elected officials.
The pre-trial filing gave us a picture of the state's case against Flores. Our reporting partner, the Texas Tribunehighlighted some of the allegations.
· Accepted $40,000 in payments in exchange for favorable treatment on legislation between 2002 and 2004. · Was known as "Mr. Ten Percent" for his insistence on being paid 10 percent of the profits companies made from the contracts he awarded them. · Pressured the director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to hire convicted felon Roel Benavides in 2003, then accepted "improper benefits" from Benavides in the form of property. · Failed to report over $80,000 in income to the IRS in 2003, over $68,000 in 2004, over $30,000 in 2005, over $51,000 in 2005 and almost $92,000 in 2008.
The AP has even more background on the case.
The key witness for prosecutors was a former Rio Grande Valley clinic owner who testified that he essentially bribed Flores before being convicted of scamming Medicaid of more than $4 million. Eliseo Sandoval, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence, said he paid Flores under the guise of hiring the lawmaker to help a fledging deer-breeding and ranch business.
The next step for Flores will be his sentencing on November 22.
