The United States Attorney's Office

(McALLEN, Texas) – Isauro Trevino, the former City Manager of Mission, Texas, and Joe Villegas, Mission’s former Director of Parks and Recreation, along with two contractors were sentenced today for accepting or paying bribes in exchange for favorable treatment in the awarding of city contracts, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

At the hearing this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced former Mission City Manager Isauro Trevino, 36, to 48 months in federal prison, without parole, and fined him $50,000. The sentence represents an upward departure from the recommended but advisory sentencing guideline range of punishment. In upwardly departing, Judge Crane found that Trevino was part of a “systematic and pervasive pattern of corruption” that resulted “in a loss of trust and public confidence in government.” Judge Crane further found that Trevino has received more than $90,000 in documented bribes and wondered how much he might have received in undocumented bribes. Trevino has been ordered to surrender to the United States Marshals Service on June 25, 2008, to begin serving his four-year sentence.

Villegas, 51, Mission’s former Director of Parks and Recreation, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and fined $20,000. The sentence represents the high end of the applicable guideline range of punishment. 

Trevino and Villegas pleaded guilty in February to conspiring to commit extortion under color of official right.

“Neither good governance nor public service is for sale,” DeGabrielle said. “These prison sentences should so reassure our citizens and taxpayers.”

In sentencing former City Manager Trevino, Judge Crane found Trevino had accepted more than $90,000 in bribes in exchange for favorable treatment in the awarding and approval of various City of Mission projects while he served as city manager from 2002 through mid-2005. Trevino received free stucco at his Mission home during the fall of 2002 from then contractor partners Daniel Rodriguez and David Trevino, 44, no relation to the former city manager. In 2003, Rodriguez and David Trevino were awarded a project from Mission for the construction of a skate park at Catholic War Veteran’s Park. Rodriguez has been convicted and sentenced to federal prison in another case arising from the same FBI operation that lead to the charges in this case. 

The bribes attributed to Isauro Trevino also included numerous cash bribes from Rene Cavazos, 48, operator of Wrangler Construction and Rene Cavazos Trucking, whose companies received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts from Mission, including projects for walking trails at city parks and for sludge removal. Many of the projects Cavazos was awarded were split into phases to evade the public notice and City Council-approval requirements for projects in excess of $25,000. Cavazos typically gave cash payments to Isauro Trevino after receiving contracts from Mission, and Isauro Trevino deposited tens of thousands of dollars in payments from Cavazos into an account established at a McAllen bank in the name of his mother-in-law. 

Villegas also regularly received cash from Cavazos after being awarded a Parks Department project and served as a conduit for Isauro Trevino’s bribes. Villegas would receive money from Cavazos for both himself and Trevino and pass the money along to Trevino. Villegas also accepted three bids from an undercover FBI agent in January 2003 for athletic equipment at the Mission Adult Recreation Center. The FBI undercover agent submitted his own bid along with a fake or “dummy” bid which he told Villegas was “dummied up.” The undercover agent also submitted a third bid which was lower than another company’s bid that a Mission official had disclosed, thus allowing the undercover agent to come in as the low bidder.

Contractors Rene Cavazos and David Trevino, who also stand convicted after pleading guilty to their role in this bribery scheme, were also sentenced today by Judge Crane. Cavazos has been ordered to serve one year and a day in federal prison for paying bribes to Isauro Trevino and fined $50,000. David Trevino was sentenced to five years probation for providing free stucco for the renovation of Isauro Trevino’s home.  

The case was investigated by special agents of the McAllen Office of the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gregg Costa and Larry Eastepp.

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