ADVERTISEMENT Texas judge indicted on charges of fraud, bribery Stephen C. Webster

Published: Sunday April 5, 2009





Print This Email This Judge allegedly offered leniency for sex in at least one instance

A District Court Judge from El Paso, Texas, is free on bail after an arrest following a lengthy FBI investigation into alleged corruption in his courtroom.



Sunday, Jaime Esparza, the county's District Attorney, said roughly 100 drug cases dismissed by District Judge Manuel Barraza will be reviewed, with the possibility that some charges will be refiled, reported the Associated Press.



Barraza, 53, was arrested Thursday afternoon after a federal grand jury indicted him on "three charges of wire fraud and deprivation of honest services," reported the El Paso Times. "He faces an additional charge of making a false statement to the FBI, whose agents arrested him at his house Thursday morning."



The judge took office Jan. 1, 2009.



"Everything is pretty much going crazy over here because of Judge Barrazas arrest," El Paso District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez told El Paso Magazine. "Were having to determine who will be signing documents on his behalf and what to do if he decides to return to the bench after he bonds out."



"Gilbert said he and others hope Barraza will not continue hearing cases until the charges against him are disposed of," the magazine continued.





Photo credit: Ruben R. Ramirez, El Paso Times

"'He is innocent until proven guilty, of course, but were all hopeful that he will respect the bench and the oath that he took,' Sanchez said. Hes obligated by judicial ethics and the rules of conduct, and for that matter, the decency of a person."



The state intervened and suspended Barraza from his $140,000 a year job. He is free on a $10,000 bond.



"The four-count indictment against Barraza charges that he 'accepted bribes in the form of cash money and solicited sex and agreed to accept a bribe of engaging in sexual activity with women, including an individual why was, unbeknownst to the defendant, a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent acting in an undercover capacity, in exchange for his influence and exercise of discretion in his capacity as an elected judge,'" the magazine noted in a Sunday morning update to the story.



"Barrazas illegal solicitations allegedly began immediately after he was elected in November 2008, two months before he took office, and continued until February of this year."



The following video was posted to YouTube by user LionStar 75 on Oct. 11, 2008.









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