TEXAS – A campaign manager was arrested Thursday and accused of paying voters to vote in the November 2012 school board election in Donna, Texas.
The four-count indictment charges Francisco “Frankie” Garcia, 47, of Donna, with conspiring to buy votes, paying for votes, and aiding and abetting others to buy votes stemming from the vote-buying scheme.
Garcia was arrested the evening of Sept. 18, 2014, in Alton, Illinois.
The indictment was unsealed following Garcia’s arrest.
According to the indictment, during the November 2012 general election, Garcia worked as a campaign manager for four candidates to the Donna School Board. During that time, he allegedly bought votes and worked with other campaign workers to pay voters and to offer to pay voters in this election to vote for particular candidates.
The indictment alleges that Garcia paid voters by giving the voters either cocaine or cash in exchange for their votes.
Three campaign workers – Rebecca Gonzalez, 44, and Diana Balderas Castaneda, 48, both of Donna, Texas, and Guadalupe Escamilla, 72, of Weslaco, Texas – previously pleaded guilty to vote-buying charges stemming from this election.
The FBI investigated the case.