Testimony began Wednesday in the trial of a former Bexar County jailer accused of providing a small hacksaw-stuffed taco to high-risk inmates plotting an elaborate escape attempt, including a man who was awaiting trial for capital murder.

Alfred Casas, 31, knew he messed up two years ago when he agreed to meet the girlfriend of double-murder suspect Jacob Keller after work so he could pick up a taco to give Keller, jurors heard the defendant admit in a recorded interview with detectives.

“It was one taco and I opened it and there was nothing in it,” Casas said through tears as detectives had him change off-camera into orange inmate scrubs. “I know it sounds stupid. I'm stupid for bringing those tacos. But it was a regular taco. I didn't know (about the hacksaw blade).”

If convicted, Casas, who was a three-year veteran of the sheriff's office, could face up to 20 years in prison for two counts of accepting bribes. He faces up to 10 years for a charge of providing an implement for escape.

A random cell inspection in December 2009 turned up about 30 feet of rope, created from tied-together sheets that appeared to have been dyed brown with coffee grinds. In another cell, jailers found a jail uniform dyed and disguised to look like street clothes, as well as a shirt and pants sewn together from a jail-issued blanket, hidden between a window and a metal plate that appeared to have been sawed through.

A small hacksaw was also hidden in the cell, said Deputy Joseph Garza Jr. Bringing anything to inmates, even tacos, is considered “a major breach of security,” Garza added, explaining that jailers are trained not to do so.

In exchange for the taco delivery, Keller's girlfriend twice gave Casas bottles of Xanax, prosecutors James Ishimoto and Zachary Edwards said.

“He admits to the tacos. He admits to the special treatment,” Ishimoto said. “Even though he doesn't want to admit to the blade, it's still bribery.”

Defense attorneys Philip and David Campa agreed that Casas deserved to lose his job.

“But there was nothing that rises to the level of criminal activity,” Campa said, suggesting authorities pinned the hacksaw on his client because “they needed a scapegoat” to blame the security breach on.

But the inmates and Keller's girlfriend all gave similar accounts of what happened, Detective Richard Escobedo said during the interview with Casas, telling him, “This is the worst day of your life. We've got you, bro. We've got you ugly.”

Casas' story that he picked up the taco, took it home and brought it to Keller the next day doesn't make sense, Escobedo said. What would be the point of bringing an inmate a “cold-ass” taco if it wasn't being used to smuggle something, he asked.