PECOS, SAN ANTONIO – In San Antonio, a federal judge sentenced Former Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo of Pecos to two years and five months in prison 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 now of Selma, Texas, pay $876,000 restitution and be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term.
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 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 Reeves County judge 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 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. Galindo and Uresti join two other area politicians convicted of federal public corruption.
Last week, former Presidio County Commissioner Lorenzo Hernandez and former Presidio school board member and city of Presidio employee Carlos Nieto, both of Presidio, were sentenced to federal prison and fined for taking bribes in an FBI sting operation to ensure that Presidio County awarded a document management contract to a fake FBI company.