SHERMAN — Mark Jordan has portrayed himself as hopelessly love-struck over Richardson's mayor when he wined, dined and lavished her with gifts around the time she voted for a controversial rezoning request for his development.

But testimony from a key government witness Tuesday and Wednesday during the couple's federal bribery trial painted a different picture of the developer. Sarah Catherine Norris, his former business partner and lover, told jurors the philandering Jordan is narcissistic, controlling and manipulative and never originally intended to marry the then-mayor, Laura Maczka.

They eventually married.

Norris testified that Mark Jordan told her the true reason for the trips, gifts and the sex he was having with Laura beginning in 2013: He was just using her to get what we wanted.

According to Norris and transcripts of recorded conversations, Mark Jordan talked about his former attorney's novel bribery defense: Marry Laura. Or as Jordan put it, "I can't go to jail for loving her."

The seven-count indictment filed last year accuses Laura Jordan, 54, and Mark Jordan, 52, both of Plano, of honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery, and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Mark Jordan paid her over $18,000 in cash and $40,000 by check for her votes, according to the indictment. He also paid for over $24,000 in renovations to her home as well as for luxury vacations, the indictment said. And he gave her time, attention and sex, which both defendants valued highly, prosecutors said.

In exchange, prosecutors say, Laura Jordan supported and voted for Mark Jordan's controversial mixed-use development in the city -- despite having run on a platform that opposed projects that placed apartments near neighborhoods.

'Using her for votes'

Norris said during her testimony that she met Mark Jordan in 2004 and began working with him two years later at one of his property management companies. She said she and Mark Jordan in 2008 became equal partners in Sooner Management, an office management company involved in the bribery allegations.

Norris testified that Mark Jordan told her one day in 2013 that he loved her. They began a three-month relationship, she said.

She told jurors that Mark Jordan told her parents that he wanted to marry her. She was divorced at the time, but he was still married to his wife of more than two decades.

As their relationship was ending, Mark Jordan's attitude toward Norris soured, she said. His demeanor became "pretty harsh." He was "standoffish" and "irritable" toward her, and he told her he'd force her out if she dated anyone, she said.

He even threw a chair at her once, Norris testified, in a jealous rage.

Mark Jordan and former Richardson Mayor Laura Jordan leave the Paul Brown Federal Building United States Courthouse in on Feb. 12 in Sherman. Federal authorities say that while she was mayor of Richardson, Laura Jordan — then Laura Maczka — accepted money, gifts and other favors from Mark Jordan in exchange for voting for a controversial rezoning involving his large apartment development in the city. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

Mark Jordan then began spending a lot of time with Laura beginning around the summer of 2013, prior to the key rezoning votes that made his Palisades mixed-use development work financially, Norris said. Neighbors adjacent to the project fiercely opposed the rezoning because it added many more apartments.

Norris testified that Mark Jordan became "disengaged" with the business while he was off carrying on with Laura. Norris said that when she confronted him about his attentions toward the mayor, Mark Jordan brushed it off.

"He said he was using her for votes," she told jurors.

Mark Jordan told her he "swayed" the mayor so she would support the apartments he wanted to add, Norris said.

Norris, who handled accounting for Sooner Management, said she confronted Mark Jordan numerous times about his lavish spending on the mayor, including trips to California and a Utah resort. Each time, his answer was roughly the same: "Stay out of it. It's none of your business," she said.

Norris said she became increasingly concerned about his behavior, given that she owned half of Sooner Management. So she contacted the FBI in the spring of 2014 to tell them about it, she said. It wasn't out of jealousy, Norris said. She had "moved on" by that time, she said.

The 50-acre Palisades Village development on U.S. 75 in Richardson is the focus of a federal bribery trial involving the developer and the ex-mayor. (Contributed / JP Realty)

Mark Jordan, she testified, later admitted to her -- in 2014 -- that he was having an affair with Laura and that it began around the summer or fall of 2013, prior to the key zoning votes on the city council.

By the time of Mark Jordan's admission, Norris was looking for a new job due to his improper relationship, she said. "I didn't want to be part of it," Norris said.

Norris said she also took "screen shots" of Mark Jordan's email, to which he gave her access. The emails, which she shared with the FBI, showed that the mayor was forwarding emails to Mark Jordan about the Palisades development.

One of Mark Jordan's emails to Laura said: "This was a great day for both you and me." She replied: "Could not agree more."

On cross-examination, Norris agreed that Mark and Laura could have been referring to anything.

Best defense

Norris told jurors that Mark Jordan told her his former criminal defense attorney advised him that if he gave Laura an engagement ring, it "probably would be pretty good for our case."

But Mark Jordan, Norris said, told her at the time that he had no plans to get engaged.

Mark Jordan's attorneys told jurors during the opening of the trial that their eventual marriage was the result of true love.

But Norris said Mark Jordan was making sexual passes at her as late at October 2016. She said he unhooked her bra when they met at a restaurant - a meeting she secretly recorded for the FBI. And in text messages around the same time, Mark Jordan tried repeatedly to get her to fly from Dallas to Houston one day, to be with him.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Norris asked him in a text shown to the jury.

"Not tonight," he texted.

Norris said she thought his actions were strange, given that she was "well over him."

On cross-examination, Mark Jordan's attorney turned the focus to multiple payments Sooner Management made on Norris' personal credit card.

The attorney, Dan Cogdell, showed jurors the 2012 payments, which included a total of $65,000 during one month. She didn't deny the payments Sooner made.

"The company I owned half of, yes," Norris said.

She said Mark Jordan also used company money to pay his personal expenses. Norris said the payments are not relevant to the bribery case. Her testimony continues Thursday.