LAREDO, TEXAS — A Texas county commissioner was arrested today and charged with bribery after he allegedly accepted a Ford pickup truck, cash and electronic equipment in exchange for jobs and for promoting business interests while in office, according to federal officials.
Kristopher Michael Montemayor, a county commissioner for Precinct 1 of the Webb County Commissioners Court in Laredo, Texas, was charged with two counts of bribery, according Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division
A federal grand jury returned a sealed indictment on Tuesday, which was unsealed today.
According to allegations in the indictment, while serving as a county commissioner, Montemayor, 36, solicited and accepted bribes in exchange for promising to perform various official acts.
Montemayor allegedly accepted the use of a 2012 Ford truck, which cost approximately $37,015, in exchange for promising to provide government jobs to both the vehicle’s owner and his spouse.
The indictment further alleges that Montemayor accepted about $11,000 in cash as well as electronics equipment worth about $2,700 from a businessman who later turned out to be an undercover law enforcement agent.
Montemayor promised to take official action to promote the business interests of the undercover agent in exchange for cash and electronics, the indictment states.
If convicted, Montemayor faces up to 10 years in prison for each bribery charge.
A person is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty of the alleged crimes.