Webb County Commissioner Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes in Exchange for Official Actions

Kristopher Michael Montemayor, a county commissioner for Precinct 1 of the Webb County Commissioners Court in Texas, pleaded guilty to bribery today.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson for the Southern District of Texas, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher H. Combs of the FBI’s San Antonio Division made the announcement.

Montemayor admitted that, while serving as county commissioner, he solicited and accepted bribes in exchange for promising to perform official acts.   Specifically, Montemayor admitted that he accepted three separate bribe payments totaling $11,000, as well as over $2,700 in electronics equipment, from a businessman who, unbeknownst to Montemayor, was an undercover law enforcement agent.   Montemayor admitted that, in exchange for the money and the equipment, he promised to take official action to promote the business interests of the undercover agent.

Additionally, Montemayor admitted to accepting the use of a new 2012 Ford F-150 truck, which costs approximately $37,015, in exchange for promising to provide government jobs to both the vehicle owner and his spouse.   As a result of these job appointments, the vehicle owner and his wife received salaries of $26,000 and $45,553 from Webb County.

Montemayor is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 7, 2014 before U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in Laredo, Texas.

This case is being investigated by special agents from the Laredo Resident Agency of FBI’s San Antonio Division.   This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Emily Rae Woods and Mark J. Cipolletti of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.