Fil-Ams among accused in SD corruption case

SAN DIEGO—Three Filipino-Americans are among five defendants facing felony bribery and perjury charges in their role in what the San Diego District Attorney’s office called a “pay for play” corruption scandal involving officials from Sweetwater Union High School District School Board, the former district superintendent, and a South Bay contractor.

The three Fil-Ams charged are Sweetwater Union High School school board trustees Arlie Ricasa and Pearl Qui–ones and Henry Amigable, who worked for a construction company hired by the school district.

Also charged are former Sweetwater Superintendent Jesus Gandara and former 16-year board member Greg Sandoval.

The DA alleges all parties were involved in a pay-for-play culture with businesses that were awarded voter-approved bond projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

All five defendants face felony charges including bribery, perjury, filing a false instrument, influencing an elected official and obtaining a thing of value to influence a member of a legislative body. Additional misdemeanor charges include wrongful influence, according to the DA.

If convicted of the charges, defendants face between four and seven years in state prison, and fines.

Through their attorneys, several defendants have admitted to no wrong doing, according to several news reports.

“The widespread corruption we uncovered during our investigation of this case is outrageous and shameful,” said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in a statement. “For years, public officials regularly accepted what amounted to bribes in exchange for their votes on multi-million dollar construction projects. The corruption was nothing short of systemic.”

Dumanis added these charges begin the process of “holding these officials accountable for their actions on behalf of the taxpayers, who footed the bill for lavish dinners, concert and theater tickets, and much more.”

She said the case is believed to be the largest of its kind in San Diego County.

According to the complaint, the DA alleges Amigable’s construction company wooed the other defendants and provided tens of thousands of dollars worth of meals, airline tickets and tickets to events, and hotel stays for voter-approved bond projects. Among the items the defendants received were Los Angeles Lakers playoff tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets, Rose Bowl tickets, Southwest Airlines tickets and a trip to Napa Valley.

In other instances, administrators and trustees solicited cash for their children’s beauty pageants or field trips. They also demanded campaign donations and other favors, according to Dumanis.

Between 2008 and 2011, the defendants frequented high-end San Diego-area restaurants with Amigable and his associates racking up hundreds of dollars in food and drinks at a time, in some cases reaching more than $1,000 per outing, said Dumanis.

In return, the DA alleges, “after board members received financial favors, they approved contracts with the contractors for bond projects stemming from Sweetwater’s $644 million Proposition O.”

Dumanis said the officials did not report the gifts on their Statement of Economic Interest, as required by state law.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, January 13th at 1:30 p.m. in the San Diego County Superior Court downtown.

Ricasa, who is well known in the FilAm community in San Diego, was on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave, according to Southwestern College. Joseph Pimentel/AJPress