ERIN'S OUT AS JP, BUT NOT OUT OF THE WOODS

By Juan Montoya

Almost lost in the hubbub surrounding the problems of Cameron County Clerk-elect Sylvia Garza- Perez to acquire the state-mandated $500,000 officeholder surety bond and the taking of the oath of office by a gaggle of elected officials was the continuing saga of bribery cases involving outgoing JP 2-2 Erin Garcia Hernandez.

(Garza-Perez somehow got hold of a good surety bond from a Hidalgo County-based company with offices in Illinois and she ill get sworn in today, sources tell us. Former County Clerk Joe Rivera was staying around as a holdover until she cleared her bonding problems.)

We have now learned that investigators had called in employees of Erin's JP office all last week in preparation for the prosecution of the bribery case against Vanessa Weaver (AKA Vanessa Mercado, Vanessa Weaver Mercado) (2014-DCR-02228) and Maria Vela Silguero (2014-DCR-02231).

The indictments handed down October 22 in both cases charge that these two women made cash payments to former JP clerk Liliana Cantu "for Justice of the Peace Erin Garcia, as consideration for the decision by the said Justice of the Peace Erin Garcia as a public servant, to wit: for a favorable disposition of a pending court case."

Further, Cantu – JP Garcia's clerk – is also charged in three other separate indictments charging her with making false entries in a government record to show that three defendants in JP court had completed their court-ordered community service hours (2014-DCR-2229). She is also charged with taking a cash payment from Vanessa Mercado as consideration for a favorable decision in a judicial proceeding, to wit: pending civil court case numbers 2013-GSC-000003 and 2013-GSC-000002.

Most of these cases have been reset at the request of the defense. Weaver's cases are scheduled for trial Feb. 17, records show.

The cases involving former JP Erin Garcia are nothing to sneeze at. They are second-degree felonies. The Texas Penal Code states that:

Sec. 12.33. SECOND DEGREE FELONY PUNISHMENT. (a) An individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years.

(b) In addition to imprisonment, an individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the second degree may be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000.

This case is not going away even after Garcia has left her office in the hands of Jonathan Gracia, who took over the office after winning the election.