BISD HIRES FORMER FBI OK CITY BOMBING INVESTIGATOR TO HEAD ITS FORENSIC AUDIT OF DISTRICT FINANCES

By Juan Montoya
By a 4-1 vote with trustees Minerva Peña and Joe Colunga conveniently absent, the members of the Brownsville Independent School District board voted to hire a former top-notch Federal Bureau of Investigation supervisory agent to head its forensic audit of district finances over the last three years.
Members Catalina Presas-Garcia, Luci Longoria, Chrsitian Saavedra and Enrique Escobedo vote to hire Defenbaugh & Associates, Inc, of Dallas to perform the audit that will stretch over a one-year period and include almost every facet of district operations including the $168 million construction bond program, fiscal management, insurance contracts, and other facets of finances.
"This is the second time Minerva has decided to be conveniently absent when asked to make critical decisions on behalf of the district," said a BISD administrator. "The other case was when the previous board decided to suspend former superintendent Hector Gonzalez). She and Colunga ducked this one."
Meanwhile, trustee Rolando Aguilar, the lone "no" vote on Tuesday, said he did not like the wording on the agenda item. He apparently objected to having the district negotiate with the two top frontrunners to see whether they could agree on a dollar amount.
When the majority of the board voted to seek proposals for the performance of the audit, the specifications required that the company chosen to "conduct a complete, thorough and independent forensic accounting, auditing and investigative skills to identify any fraud, waste or abuse, to include any criminal activity(ies) or alleged tort(s), related to Brownsville Independent School District's (BISD's) funding and financial expenditures."
Not only will Defenbaugh be asked to seek wrongdoing, but also to ferret out potential crimes that "will stand the test of litigation support by either/or both criminal and/or civil proceeding and legal actions."
The board's majority choose the firm to "gather, collect, and assemble evidence utilizing acceptable accounting standards and procedures in order to produce and testify to the results in either a criminal or civil litigation setting." It will also be required to "issue a prospective summary report setting forth investigative result which may be used in preparing a criminal indictment."
Once done with making prosecutable offenses available to the board, it will also be asked to provide a report detailing "proactive risk reduction recommendations for remediation of identified deficiencies in audit designs, practices and performances."
Additionally, Defenbaugh will also be asked to "evaluate the policies and procedures governing the Standard of Care employed by the BISD, including the present audit process and make recommendations as to remediation of any identified issues."
The board required that the company had to be licensed by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) Private Security Bureau as a management company for both security consultant and private investigator and its investigators must also be licensed and in good standing with the DPS PSB.
The firm indicated that it had a thorough knowledge of the federal law enforcement system, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in order to recognize any and all federal laws which may have been violated and also have inherent ability to effectively, efficiently, properly and immediately addressed."
Apparently, Defenbaugh and Associates proved to the board that it had a "proven historical track record and display intimate knowledge and experience of forensic accounting standards and both federal and Texas State fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering criminal statutes."
Additionally, the members were convinced that the firm had "investigators and examiners...with a proven historical track record and display intimate knowledge and experience with Texas State laws and civil statutes dealing with civil issues such as, for example, conflict of interest or involving personnel issues and/or allegations implicating misconduct and improprieties on the part of BISD employees."
As required by the specs, "at least one and preferably most members of the company "must be a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or Certified Forensic Accountant and at least one of them must have "intimate knowledge and experience with banking rules regulations and bank security operations and procedures."
According to the presentation given to the board on Tuesday, Defenbauh was employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for almost 33 years. His primary investigative responsibilities centered on violent crimes, i.e., kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, and terrorist/bombing matters.
His resume indicates that he served as a Special Agent in Chicago, IL, and as a Supervisor in Miami, FL; in the Explosives Unit of the Laboratory Division at FBI Headquarters; in the Inspection Division; and in the Office of Professional Responsibility.
He later served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Field Office in Mobile, AL.
Additionally, Danny Defenbaugh, the principal of the firm, was a FBI-certified bomb technician for most of his FBI career and traveled to over 25 foreign countries in furtherance of the FBI's interest in thwarting international terrorism. He personally supervised over 150 bombing investigations, to include all the Puerto Rican terrorist group, FALN bombings in Chicago and the bombing investigations of the three terrorist attacks against American installations in Beirut, Lebanon.
He is said to have testified as either an expert witness or investigator over 100 times in federal, state, and local courts, to include the U.S. Congress and Military Tribunals. While assigned to the FBI Miami Field Office, he supervised the Major Case Squad encompassing all major violent crimes, international and domestic terrorism and all bombing matters. In addition, he was the Supervisor for the South Florida Violent Crimes/Fugitive Task Force.
In 1995, he was promoted to Inspector and named Inspector in Charge of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. From 1998 until his retirement, he was the Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office of the FBI. FBI Dallas was designated one of the ten core offices leading the September 11, 2001 investigation of the Pentagon/Twin Towers terrorist attacks.
In his presentation, Defenbaugh is said to have been the "only FBI Agent to receive two Attorney General Awards. In 1983, he received the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement. In 1998, he received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service for his management of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. Danny received the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive in 1999."
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration of Justice from American University in Washington, DC, and a Master's degree in Forensic Science from George Washington University, Washington, DC. Danny is also a graduate of the Harvard University Program for Senior Managers in Government.