SMYSER KAPLJ\N &__ VESELKA, LLP. RANK ()F AME RICA CENTER.
LO UISIANA \UITF
HOUSTON. TEXAS 77002
H LF I'I ·IOl'IF
fA C '>IMII.E
Author's E-mail Address:
Direct D ial NlI mher:
October 22, 2010
Via E-mail lin d First Class Mail
Ms. T erese 13 11 ~ss
Assist ant D isfrict Attorney
Pnb lic Integrity - Division Chief
Ha tTis COllll ry District Attorney's Office
POI Fra nklin, Suite 600
J1011sion, "ex as 770021923
P E:
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATIORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Results, If Houston Community College ("BCC") Internal Investigation
Dca Ms. J tl ess:
As y () U k ow, ~ ; myser Kaplan & Veselka, LLP ("SKV") was engaged in April 2010 by
the Bomd of HC C to investigate compliance and procurement issues involving former and
currell t memhers of the BCC Board of Trustees and BCC vendors. The HCC Board directed me
to report LO YOt' t1 .' res ll its of that investigation, After our brief discussion on August 25, 2010,
yon re quested t.hat we provide you a written summary of the results of our investigation.
in r spo nse, we submitted written information and copies of pertinent documents to you
on A ugus t 10th and September 1st. As pan of its continuing cooperation with your office's
cons.ideration of thi~ matter, 011 September lnth, the BCC Board confirmed that our providing
y tl \!
'lh n more p3rh::ilnri7.ccI re p0l1 fo r your consideration was subsumed within their directive
rh;, l ,,>.,I t' w po Ti 10 you ()'] our ili 'lcstigatio n. This letter and the attaclunents constitute that report
;)[)d S Ipple ment an clior :tmend the August 30th iet1cL
We Il11derstand that you will consider this as confidential information presented to your
office to aid your determination of whelher to open, continue, or conduct a criminal
inve.sti gati o n. Bee has not waived any clflim of privilege or investigatory protection from
public production except for purposes of disclosure of our results to you for your investigatory
considerati or;.
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District A ttomey
Puhlic Integrity - Divis!on Chief
Barris County District Attorney's Offi r:e
October 22, 2010
Page 2
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Summary of rindings
SUbject to the limitations of our investigation described below and the more detailed
description of the facts as recounted by those persons interviewed as part of the
investigation, the principal findings of our investigation are:
A. As to Abel Davila
1. Abel Davila violated HCC Board policies and his fiduciary duties to HCC
by personally advocating ancUor requiring that 1's Quality be hired as an
HCC subcontractor and prime contractor. Mr. Davila received at least the
financial benefit of J's Quality's assuming Mr. Davila's or one of his
companies' obligations on the office lease at 2000 North Loop W.
Credible statements in our interviews, some supported by documents,
suggest that the actions ofMr. Davila or J's Quality may have violated one
or more criminal statutes and justify consideration by the HCDAO for
ftl.rther investigation into what financial dealings or understandings or
agreements there were between Mr. Davila and 1's Quality.
2. Sufficient factual bases also exist to justify further investigation into
whether Mr. Davila violated any criminal statutes by:
(a) Arranging for an HeC vendor to hire a business with which
Tmstee Yolanda Navarro FloresL Jas affiliated;
(b I Having a potential financial interest or commission in the proposed
HCC lease of the fonner Macy's space at Sharpstown Mall, as Dr.
Tyler said the real estate broker Peter Nguyen implied; and lor
(c) Mr. Davila's accepting uncompensated professional services from
Eee vendor YaffelDeutser. p~aining to the ioint billboard
:.l
campaign with Mr. Davila'.c[. JHISD Tmstee[
in
the fall of 2009 before Mr. Davila announced he was not going to
run for re·-election and Mr. Davila's not reporting such services as
a campaign contribution in kind (although he did report as
campaign expenditures the amounts he reimbursed YaffelDeutser
for the third-party costs YaffelDeutser paid for those billboards).
B. As
1. l3814R.5
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Yolanda Navarro Flores
Credible reports suggest that Yolanda Navarro Flores enlisted the
assistance of then-Board President Abel Davila to leverage HCC's
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Ms. Terese Ruess
Assistant District Attorney
Puhlic Tntegrity - Division Chief Harris County District AHorney's Office Octoher 22, 20 I 0 Page ~ PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
business relation~hip with at least one HCC contractor to hire a business
wilh which herL
_
Jwas involved. Fort Bend Mechanical,
anl~ of HCe's JOC contractors, paId businesses with which f _ .-Jis
involved some $) 62,947.00 in just ten months between December 2008
and October 2009.
,·f.
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C. 2. According to Brad Deutser, Yolanda Navarro Flores demanded that he
secretly provide free professional advice and services regarding the
production and placement of billboards in support of her political
campaigns. Mr. Deutser felt that Ms. Navarro Flores was threatening his
HCC contract. Mr. Deutser not only provided the services, but his firm
Ynffe/Deutser paid far the billboards. Ms. Navarro Flores' action, if
confirmed, would constitute abuse of office, and her failure to disclose the
value of the services and the expenditure as in-kind contributions violate
tlw campaign finance disclosure statute.
Ms. Navarro Flores also
rlt1empted to dictate to Yaffe/Deutser which subcontractors to use for
H ispanic outreach.
3.
H;lVing a poiential financial interest or commission in the proposed HCC
lease of the fonner Macy '$ space at Sharpstown Mall, as Dr. Tyler said the
recti estate broker Peler Nguyen implied; and lor
4. Having arranged to enter into a professional relationship with the law firm
engaged by HCC Lo collect property taxes due to HCC. Apparently, the
arrangement only fell apart when Ms. Navarro Flores filed to run against
an incumbent state senator.
As to Diane Olmos Guzman
Ms. Guzman is reported to have demanded and received free consulting services
and expenditures on behalf of her campaign from YaffefDeutser without paying
for them i:ll1d falsely reporting that she had reimbursed YaffefDeutser for the
ex penditures. Such action would constitute abuse of office and violate the
campaign finance disclosure statute.
D. As to the relationship hetween Fort Bend Mechanical and Trustee Chris Oliver
Chris Oliver's company Tekoa Property Management began doing business for
Fort Bend Mechanical as a subcontractor on non-HCC projects no later than
March 2009 and that relationship continues. In April 2009, HCC General
Counsel Renee Byas infomled Mr. Oliver that he must file a Conflict of Interest
Disclosure. Mr. Oliver did so within a matter of days. While Mr. Oliver's filing
I3RI1U
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity ._- Division Chief
Harris County District A ttomey' s Office
October 22, 20 10
PClge 4
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
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may fall within a statutory exemption under Local Government Code
§ 176.003(c), further inquiry cOllld be justified to confinn that there was no quid
pro quo uoderstanding or that the arrangement or understanding did not constitute
a prohibited gift to a public servant.
H.
Limitations of Investigation
The {-ICC Board decided to conduct the investigation in response to Due Diligence
Findings by the Office of Systemwide Compliance ("OSC") on April 8, 2010 pertaining
to former Trustee Abel Davila and on April 8 and 13,2010 pertaining to Trustee Yolanda
Navarro Flores. Copies of those Due Diligence Findings are enclosed as Exhibits 1 and
2. SKY was provided with copies of the OSC findings. SKV was then briefed on the
OSC analyses, provided access to addiiional procurement and other records and
authorized to interview BeC Trustees, administrators, and other staff. SKY was also
allowed to have our private investigators conduct limited computer forensic searches.
SKV was also provided contact information for some former HCC personnel and for
certain HCC vendors.
SKY conducted in-person or telephone interviews of 57 people, including all present
I-ICC Trustees e~(cept Trustee Navarro Flores, who declined to be interviewed. While
ClltTent HCC personnel were subject to potential employment consequences for failure to
submit to be interviewed, SKY had no subpoena power. So we could not compel
cooperation from persons not employed by HCe. Some former personnel and some
persons affiliated with HCC vendols reflJSed to be interviewed. A complete list of the
persons intervie'Ned, and those refusing to submit to an interview, is included as part of
Exhibit 3_ Exhibit 3 also contains synopses of all interviews conducted in alphabetical
order.
1\ few of thost intervievved agreed to provide copies of particular documents that
pertained to issues that came up in the interviews. Unable to compel attendance at
iJlterviews or to compel production of pertinent. personal communications, e_g. emails or
text messages, Of pertinent financial or banking records, we could not determine whether
what we were told was consistent with or contradict.ed by such documentation_ We were
limited to assessing credibility by our subjective assessment of the interviewee at the time
of the interview, and by whether the information was corroborated by or contradicted by
other interviewees' statements and the BCC records that were available to us.
Since we lacked the subpoena authority to do more, we concluded our investigation once
we obtained what we considered to be sufficient credible information to justify referring
the matter to your office .
,..." .~
.,
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IJHI4!U
Ms. Terese Guess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity .- Divisir)n Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Page 5
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BacI<gronnd em HCC
Houston Community College ("HCC") is a public institution of higher education
governed by Texas Education Code § (]O_ Established in 1971 under the governance of
the Houston Independent School District as a result of a public referendum, HCC
separated from HISD in 1989 and established its own Board of Trustees, consisting of
nine (9) trustees elected from single-member rlistricts for staggered six-year tenns. In
1992, I-ICC restructured into a multi-college system with an administration building and
six campuses.I-ICC is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Associate degree. For the 2009 fall
term, I-ICC had ~ total enrollment of 69,755 students, 30% full-time and 70% part-time.
HCC's Operatim~ Budget for 2009-2010 was $258,692,574.00, with $86,294,425.00
coming from tuition and fees and $172,239,678.00 from state appropriations, ad valorem
laxes, and other heal income.
The College Administration consists of Chancellor Mary Spangler, Deputy Chancellor
Art Tyler, several Vice Chancellors, and the Presidents of the individual campuses. The
current Board of frustees consists of: Dr. Michael P. Williams (Chair), Neeta Sane (Vice
Chair), Sandie },1ullil1s (Secretary), Bruce Austin, Yolanda Navarro Flores, Eva L.
Loredo, Christopller W. Oliver, Mary Ann Perez, and Richard M. Schechter. The Chair
is elected by the Board Members each year to serve a one-year tenn.
When the College has a need for work to be perfonned, the Procurement Department
issues a Request for Proposal (RFP). Procurement receives the bids, collects input from
the evaluation cO'llmittee, a:"1d based on the results, places the various contractors in rank
order. T he Administration tben presents the results of the RFP and evaluation process as
a recommendatiol1 to the Board . . The Board of Trustees reviews the bidding documents,
decides which contractor should receive the contract, and authorizes the awarding of the
contmct. These decisions must be made in public sessions, but may be discussed in
executive sessions . After the Board authorizes the awarding of the contract, the
Administration, particularly Procurement, hondles administration and payment of the
cnntrRcl.
With respect to the Board of Trustees, BCC Policy provides:
Board members serve as fiduciaries and must act solely and exclusively for the
benefit of the C.lUege. High ethical standards are critical to fulfilling these
res ponsihilities. The laws and statutes enacted by the Legislature to govern the
conduct of puhli t; officials are considered by the Board to be the minimum
standards. These legal provisions goveming ethical and professional standards of
conduct and disclosure are provided in the following Texas statues and should be
consuited for specific inforrnation should the need arise : (a) Education Code; (b)
1.1R148.5
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attomey
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22,2010
Page 6
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
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ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Penal Code; (c) Government Code; (d) Texas Labor Code; and (e) · Local
Government Code.
The HCC Board of Trustees' Bylaws require trustees to, among other things:
(l) abide by all laws and regulations applicable to community college trustees; (2)
refuse to surrender judgment 10 individuals or special interest groups; (3) protect
the reputation Clnd integrity of the system; (4) prohibit external groups or
individuals from exerting undue influence or pressure on Staff, which would
circumvent polic y or administrative procedure; and (5) take no private action that
will compromise the Board or administration, and respect the confidentiality of
information under applicable law.
The Bylaws also prohibit trustees from:
(1) using the office of trustee to obtain information that can give another person
an interest in a transaction; or (2) speculating or aiding another to speculate on the
bases of confidential information.
IV.
Ap plicable
Lt~gal
Standards
[,owl Government Code § j 7J.. Conflict of interest
An nee trustee "Iho has a "substantial interest in a business entity," meaning that
tbe trustee, or a person related to the tmstee in the first degree by consanguinity or
affinityl, (l): owns 10 percent or more of the business entity; or (2) received more
than 10 percent of his or her gross income from the business entity in the previous
year, TEX. Loc. Gov. CODE § 17 J .002(a), must disclose that interest in the
business entity and refrain from participating in actions involving the entity, see
id & l'71.004.
Loco{ (;overnmen{ Code § 176. Disclosure aJConflict ojInterest
An }lec trustee rnust file a conflicts disclosure statement if a "person enters into
a contract with []{CC] or [HCC] is considering entering into a contract with the
person" and the person (a) has an employment or other business relationship with
Ithe trustee J or ;:> famiiy member of the [trustee1 that results in the [trustee]
.
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"A parent and child are related in the fIrst degree [of consangllinity]," TEX. LOC. GOV, CODE § 573.023(a), and a
"husband and wife are related to each other in the first degree by affinity." Id., § 573.025(a).
I
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Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 lO
Page 7
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ATIORNEY WORK PRODUCT
receIvIng more than $2,500 in taxable income during the 12-month period
preceding the date that the [trustee] becomes aware of the contract or proposed
contract; or (b) has given to the [trustee) or a family member of the [trustee] one
or more gifts that have an aggregate value of more than $250 in the 12-month
period preceding the date the [trustee] becomes aware of the contract or proposed
contract. Jd , § 176.003(a). The conflicts disclosure statement must be filed no
later than 7 business days after the trustee becomes aware of facts that require
filing the statement. Jd., § 176.003(b).
Similarly, a per.son who "enters or seeks to enter into a contract with [I-ICC]"
must file a "completed conflict of interest questionnaire" if the person: (l) has an
employment or other business relationship with an officer of [HCC], or a family
member of the officer, that results in the [I-ICC] officer receiving more than
$2,500 in taxable income in the previous year; or (2) has given an officer of
[HCCJ , or a family member of the officer, one or more gifts of greater than $250.
Jd., § i 76.006(a).
Texas Government Code § 573 .' Prohibition on Nepotism
An lICe Trustee "may not appoint, confirm the appointment of, or vote for the
appoinlment or CDnfilmation of the appointment of an individual to a position that
is to be directly or indirectiy compensated from public funds or fees of office if:
(1) the individllal is related to the [tnlstee] within [the third degree by
cons anguinity or within the second degree by affinity]; or (2) the [trustee] holds
tbe appointment Dr confinnation authority as a member of a state or local board,
the legislature, 0 / a court and the individual is related to another member of that
board, legislature" or court within [the third degree by consanguinity or within the
second degree by affinity.]" TEX. Gov. CODE § 573.041. An individual who
violates this provision "shall be removed from the individual's position." ld.
Bribery and Gift§.
Texas Penal Codp § 36.02: Brihery
A person commies bribery "if he intentionally or knowingly offers, confers, or
agrees to confer on another, or solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept fTOm another:
( 1) (lny benefit as consideration [or the recipient's decision, opinion,
recommendation, vote, or other exercise of discretion as a public
servant, party official, or voter;
138148 .5
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant Dish;ct Attorney
Public Integrity - Divi,q ion Chief
Han'is County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Page R
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(3) any b enefit as consideration for a violation of a duty imposed by law
on a puhlic servant or party official ; or
(4) any benefit that is a political contribution .. . if the benefit was
offered, conferred, solicited, accepted, or agreed to pursuant to an
express agreement to take or withhold a specific exercise of official
discretion if such exercise of official discretion Vy'ould not have been
tnken or withheld but for the benefit ...."
Texas Penal Code § 36.08: Gift to Puhlic Servant
"A public servant who exercises discretion in connection with contracts,
purchases, payments, claims, or other pecuniary transactions of government
commits an offense if he solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept any benefit from a
person the pubij~ servant knows is interested in or likely to become interested in
any co ntract, purchase, payment, claim, or transaction involving the exercise of
his discretion ."
Texas Penal Code § 36.09: Gift fo Public Servan(
"A person commits an offense if he offers, confers, or agrees to confer any benefit
on (l public servant that he knows the puhlic servant is prohibited by law from
accepting. "
Coercion and Abuse of Office
Texas Penal Code § 36.03: Coercion
"A person commits an offense if by means of coercion he: (1) influences or
attempts to influ('.nce a public servant in a specific exercise of his official power
or a specific performance of his official duty or influences or attempts to
influence a public servant to violate the public servant's known legal duty...."
Texas Penal Cod!! § 39: Abuse of Office
An Hee Tmstee "commits an offense if, in reliance on infonnation to which he
has access by virtue of llis office or employment and that has not been made
public, he: (l) acquires or aids another to acquire a pecuniary interest in any
property, Iransac.tion, or enterprise that may be affected by the information; [or]
(2) speculates or ;lids another to speculate on the basis of the information."
138148.5
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010 Page 9 PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
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An HCC Trustee also commits an offense "if with intent to obtain a benefit or
with intent to harm or defraud another, he discloses or uses information for a
nongovernmental purpose that: (1) he has access to by means of his office or
employment; and (2) has not been made public."
"A person commits an offense if, with intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to
harm or defraud another, he solicits or receives from a public servant information
that: (I) the public servant has access to by means of his office or employment;
and (2) has nm heen made public."
Campaign Fina,nee Disclosure Requirements
Texas Election Code § 254.031
Candidates for public office must file reports that contain the amount of political
contrihutions from each person that in the aggregate exceed $50 and that are accepted
during the reporting period by the candidate, the full name and address of the person
making the conLributions, and the dates of the contributions. The reports must also
contain the amount of political expenditures that in the aggregate exceed $50 and that are
made during the reporting period, the full name and address of the persons to whom the
expenditures arc made, and the dates and purposes of the expenditure.
Texas Election Code § 254.041
A candidate commits an offense if the candidate knowingly fails to file a report on time
or fails to inciude required information in the report. A violation of this section is a Class
A misdemeanor.
V.
An alysis
1\.
Ahel Davila
l.
Background on Persons Involved
A bel Davila is a thirty-eight year-old Hispanic male. Mr. Davila is
educated as a phannacist and has taught pharmacy at San Jacinto College.
Mr. Davila is engaged in owning and operating numerous businesses
through various business entities, i. e. pharmacies, a Mexican restaurant,
and, at least for a while, financial planning and services. His background
infonnation and the results of public records search by our private
investigator are included in Exhibit 4.
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Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attomey
Publi c Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 10
Page 1()
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Abel Davila was elected to the Bee Board in 1997 and re-elected in 2003.
He was coming up for re-election in November 2009 when he surprised
the political prognosticators by not filing for re-election at the last minute.
Up until then he was filing campaign reports and collecting political
contributions. See Ex. 5.
M L Davila was elected Chainnan of the Board for 2009.
ML
Davila'~.=-
resignation on July 15,
)served on the HISD Board until her surprise
20Th.
Jocelyne Ramirez is a twenty-three year-old Hispanic female. She is
m<'lrried to Jason Hernandez. Ms. Ramirez was educated as a pharmacy
technician at San Jacinto College while Mr. Davila taught there. There is
[! difference in their recollection as to wheth)L MS'jamireZ was a student
in one of Mr. Davila's classes. Mr. Davila'L
and Mr. Hernandez's
family are reported to be long-standing friends.
Ms . Ramirez worked for one of Mr. Davila's pharmacies, Care RX, in
l-huston until it was closed. Ms. Ramirez and Mr. Hernandez organized
]' <; Quality Construction in December 2008.
2.
A l)cl Davila's involvement in J's Quality being awarded HCC work
Jocelyne Ramirez was an employee of one of Mr. Davila's pharmacies
until it closed. Then in 2008 Ms. Ramirez decided to go into the
contracting business. Mr. Davila introduced her at a political function to
Mr. Pete Medford, President of Fort Bend Mechanical Ltd. ("Fort Bend
Ml~chaDical" or "Fort Bend").
Fort Bend Mechanical had done work at least back to 2007 as a
subcontractor to Ararnark, which had a multi-year contract from 2005 to
provide certain maintenance services to HCC facilities . Fort Bend
Mf:'; chanical submitted a proposal to be awarded one of the Job Order
Contractor or "JOC" contracts [or 2009. For a number of years, HCC had
had only one JOe contractor -- RHJ-JOe, Inc. When Hurricane Ike hit,
RHJ failed to respond as HCC would have liked. Much of the work done
to bring the facilities back into service was done by Aramark and Fort
Bend MechanicaL HCe issued a RFP in late 2008. Fort Bend Mechanical
submitted one of the three proposals selected to be awarded a JOe
contract #09-04. To help prepare this bid, Fort Bend Mechanical hired
Mr John Thomas, who had previously been part of the RHJ team. Many
of the {-lCC staff talked of John Thomas acting like or intimating that he
I3R14R.S
Ms. Terese Bue~s
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Page 11
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knew how to get the Board of TlUstees to award contracts to whichever
company hired him.
J's Quality filed its Articles of Incorporation with the Texas Secretary of
State on December 5, 2008. See Ex. 6. Fort Bend Mechanical was
awarded the JOC Contract #09-04 by the Board on December 11, 2008.
See Ex. 7, pp 8--9. Tills is the same time frame in which Fort Bend
Mechanical started to use J's Quality as a subcontractor. Fort Bend
fvlechanical first paid 1's Quality for subcontracting work on December
19, 2008 . Between December 19, 2008 and July 15, 2009, Fort Bend
Mechanical paid oI's Quality $572,745.71 for subcontract services on HCC
or HISD projects. See Ex. R. The history of payments to 1's Quality as
Fort Bend Mechanical's subcontractor also raises some questions due to
tIle even nature of payments, e.g. exactly $100,000.00 out of a
$146,678.00 total on one' project; and exactly $98,000.00 out of
$138,645.00 on another. See Ex . 9. The project managers or facilities
pl~ rsonnel familiar with J's Quality'S work said that the initial work was
substandard and that the Bee personnel had to call J's Quality back out to
learn how to complete the work satisfactorily.
Within only a matter of months of J's Quality getting the work from Fort
Bend Mechanical, Mr. Davila began to promote J's Quality, a start-up
company nm by this then twenty-two year-old woman trained as a
phannacy tech, for additional HCe work.
A number of people
int.erviewed said that Mr. Davila and Ms. Ramirez were seen together
routinely in 2008-2009. Not only would Mr. Davila introduce her to
vendors at HCC or HISD-related political functions, they would be seen
to~ether at coffee shops or other places.
In the spring of 2009, the nec Administration was proposing that the
Board award an energy servites performance ("ESP") contract to Chevron
Energy Solutions Company. Mr. Davila is reported to have told the
Adillinistration that he could arrange the votes to award the contract to
Chevron if the Administration would get Chevron to agree to hire
particular subcontractors selected by Mr. Davila and other members of the
J's Quality Construction was one of those designated
B0ard.
subcontractors (as was fort Bend Mechanical). See Ex. 10.
At first Mr. Davila pushed to get ]'S Quality paid $500,000.00 out of the
contract budget for being "mentored" by Chevron on how to perform
"program management" services.
The Administration and Chevron
ba lked at that idea, though some consideration of drawing up a contract
13R 148 "
Ms. Terese Suess
Assistant District Attofl1ey
Public rntegrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
Octoher 22, 2010
PRlVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
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ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Page 12
calling for a direct "pnssthrough" of monies to be paid to 1's Quality
t!\rough Chevron was considered. The HCC General Counsel's Office
would not approve any language in the Chevron Contract that called for a
mentee/subcontract position or direct "passthrough" for the benefit of 1's
Quality.
Mr. Davila then shifted his position to suggest that J's Quality be given a
sllbcontract in the Chevron Contract in the range of$1.25-$1.5 million for
!:'!ectrical work or general construct.ion. The Chevron ESP contract #09-32
was awarded by the Board at a special Board meeting on May 21, 2009.
See Ex. 11. The language of the contract was finalized and it was
c)(ecuted effective June 23, 2009. From late July through December 2009,
Chevmn communicated with and negotiated with 1's Quality regarding the
subcontract. See history of communications between Chevron and J's
Quality at Ex. 12 . .J's Quality initially tendered pIicing that would exceed
the budget for those particular services. There was also a problem because
j's Quality did not have a licensed master electrician as needed to certify
tbe work required. .J's Quality then arranged to engage a second-tier
subcontractor with a licensed electrician, with 1's Quality simply marking
up the cost of the second-tier subcontractor. Unfortunately, as a new start­
ur company, J's Quality did not have the financial history to be bonded as
required. The Administration asked if HCC could somehow provide or
arrange the bonding, but the General Counsel informed the Administration
that I-ICC did not do that.
vVhen Mr. Davila learned in October that 1's Quality's subcontract had not
yd been finalized, he demanded that Dr. Spangler, Dr. Tyler, Mr. Brad
Bflerger of Chevron, and a fourth person (the identity of which was
remembered differently at different times by different people, it was either
the r.:rcc VEndor Alan Johnston or another Chevron representative) come
visit Mr. Davila at his restaurant Rico's Luchadores on N. Main. At that
In(:eting on October 26, 2009, Mr. Davila berated the Administration and
Chevron in humiliating terms, saying that they were treating J's Quality
lih: minorities. Mr. Davila is reported by Dr. Spangler, Dr. Tyler, and Mr.
Boerger to have threatened to get the Board to cancel the Chevron ESP
Contract. 1\l1r. Davila denies making those statements. In fact, he denies
thl: J's Quality subcontract was the topic of discussion. Mr. Davila claims
it was whether the Chevron Contract would provide the $1.5 million in
savings that Chevron contractually guaranteed.
Tc put Mr. Davila ' $ actions with regard to 1's Quality'S potential
involvement in the Chevron l-::'SP Contract in perspective, the action must
13RI~8 . 5
Ms. Terese Suess
Assistant District Attomey
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
Page 13
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
[NVESTIGATOR Y MATERIAL
ATIORNEY WORK PRODUCT
be overlain with his actions on a separate contract for J's Quality in April
through July 2009. Mr. Davila is reported to have suggested that I-ICC
create a new contract just [or "maintenance painting services." From
January through July 2009, those services were being performed mostly
by 1's Quality as a subcontractor on Fort Bend Mechanical's JOC contract
#09-04. Dr. Tyler instructed his staff to draw up an RFP for the separate
maintenance painting services contract on April 19, 2009 at Mr. Davila's
su~gestion.
The status of the paint contract was raised again at the
Administration's meeting with Mr. Davila on April 22, 2009.
TI,.'.~
RFP issueci on or about May 15, 2009 (a matter of days before the
Cllevron ESP contract was awarded by the Board), asking for proposals to
be submitted on or by June 5, 2009. The HCC Evaluation Committee met
to score the seven proposals on June 15, 2009. 1's Quality's proposal
shows that John Thomas, who had assisted Fort Bend Mechanical in
gelting its JOC contract in December 2008, was part of J's Quality's
proposed team. Ms, Ramirez admits Mr. Thomas assisted in preparing the
proposal. It should also be noted that 1's Quality's bid failed to include
the required Attachment No. 16, the Conflict of Interest Questionnaire.
Alt.hough 1's Quality had been doing business less than a year and HCC
had documented a number of complaints about its work, 1's Quality
received the highest rank by the Evaluation Committee. However, that
evaluation was not completed in time to be presented as part of the matters
considered by the Board Committee of the Whole meeting on June 18,
2009. See Ex. 13. It was the practice to consider and vote on matters at
Illt~ Committee of the Whole the week before Regular Board Meetings.
Tbose matters approved ::it the Committee of the Whole would be included
in the Consent Agenda for the Regular Board Meeting. Items on the
CClnsent Agenda are routinely approved together in one group vote.
Hnving not been considered at the Committee of the Whole meeting on
June 18,2009, consideration of the award was added to the agenda as Item
lXA.l., a Topic for Discussion and/or Action. See Ex. 14 (Agenda p. 3).
D1 Tyler has said that a matter not already discussed at the Committee of
1he Whole would only get added to the Board Meeting Agenda with the
Board Chainnan's approval. Thus, Mr. Davila had to approve adding the
matter to the Agenda.
Interestingly, the award of this maintenance pamtmg services contract,
which called for payments not to exceed $1 .5 million over three years, was
ne"er discussed at the June 25, 2009 Regular Board Meeting. The motion
to approve the Consent Agenda was amended to include ll-Jis item (and one
J3814R .5
Ms. Terese I3uess
Assistant District Attomey
Public Integrity - Divi:,ion Chief
[-Jarri~ County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
rNVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Page 14
other) as part of the Consent Agenda. Thus, this award to 1's Quality was
approved along with all the other Consent Agenda items and approved by
:t 5-0 vote of all Tmstees present. See Ex. 15 (Minutes p. 3-4). One
reason Mr. Davila may have wanted to expedite consideration of the
~;ward was that. the Board does not usually meet in July. So if it was not
approved at the June 25, 2009 meeting, it would have to wait until late
August.
Once the Board awarded the contract to 1'5 Quality with no discussion at
either the Committee of the Whole or Regular Board Meeting, the contract
had to be drafted by the Generai Counsel and executed. Ms. Byas, the
C1eneral Counsel, noticed that the address given for 1's Quality in its bid
was in a residential neighborhood. Ms. Byas contacted Ms. Ramirez to
a~; k if 1's Quality had a business address. Ms. Ramirez got back to Ms.
Byas and gave Ms. Byas 2000 N . Loop West, Suite 110, as 1's Quality's
husiness address . The contract was signed on July 8, 2009. See Ex. 16.
The contract as signed mistakenly set the term to run only through
D ecember 31, 2009. \\!hen that mistake was later noticed, there was
discussion between Mr. Davila and the Administration as to whether the
c(\ntract was supposed to be for $1.5 million per year or over the three­
yeDr term. When the Administration and General Counsel determined that
it would take additional Board action to increase the maximwn amount
above $1.5 miI1ion, it was decided to merely amend the contract to extend
the telm through July 7, 2012, subject to the $1.5 million maximum.
Thus, this amendment was signed October 8, 2009 without requiring
fu rther Board consideration. See Ex . 17.
Two of Mr. Davila's businesses, Davila and Assoc., which purportedly
provided "financial advi sory services," and Luz Enterprises, Inc., which
purportedly provided "business services," had used the office at 2000 N.
Loop West, Suite 110, the address that Ms. Ramirez provided to Ms. Byas
for 1's Quality. Mr. Davila or his businesses had a long-tenn lease on the
space but no longer needed the space. When asked about the matter, Mr.
Davila presented SKY with an unsigned copy of an Assumption of Lease
Agreement effective August I, 2009, under which J's Quality took over
the obligation on the lease, relieving Mr. Davila of that financial
obligation within weeks of Mr. Davila's efforts getting J's Quality the
$1 . ~ !T' i Uion painting contract and arranging 1's Quality to get a
su c,,:ontract on the Chevron contract. See Ex. 18 .
Dr. Tyler drew the connection between Mr. Davila's pushing 1'5 Quality
for hoth involvement in the Chevron contract and for J's Quality'S
DR! 48 .5
[- \ \ .~~
PRIVIL EGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
iN V ESTIGATORY MATERlAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Ivl . . Terese B1Iess
Assista nt Di strict Atto m _y
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County D istrict P.ttomey's Offi ce
Octo bf:r 27 20 t 0
p" , l'i
separate prime pamtll1g services contract only looking back after the
O ctoher meeti ng when ML Davil a was enraged over the failure of ]'S
Qilality to finahze the Chevron subcontract.
In response to his
in'V'estigation, Dr. Tyler created from his calendar and emails a chronology
oj his dea li ngs o n these matters with Mr. Davila and with Board Counsel
Jarvis Holiingsworth, who sometimes acted as somewhat of a "go­
hetween" Mr. Davila and the Administration. See Ex. 19.
The matter
W'lS
d iscovered o nl y after
Bee
established a new Office of
SY:-ltcmwidc Com pliance COS e") in the fall 0[2009. Web searches were
11 1' ou Truste-c~ as a t.est of the O SC c npabi!ity . General Counsel Byas
noticed th at th e 2000 N. Loop West, Suite i 10 address for Mr. Davila's
business seemed familiar to her. She co mpared that to a list compiled of
ve ndor addresses and matched it to J's Quality.
Somewhat
C O llt.C l ;poraneous ly, around the fif~t of M;u-ch, Ms. Ramirez was requested
by Jeff Austin, the HCC buyer on Contract #09-36 to come into the HCC
of(' ce to sign a C o nflict of Interest Q uestionnaire, which she did on March
5, ) 0 10. See Ex . 20. On or about March 26, 20]0, Brad Boerger found a
Y, hoo business website showing Ahel D2.vila as being sonnected with 1's
QlI al ity . Mr Boerger passed that on to Dr. Tyler, who passed it on to
O ~ ; c. See Ex. 2. 1. U ~:;C then conducted the investigation that resulted in
O ,' C senrFng letters on April 1, 2010 requesting information from Mr.
D avil a and
s. Ramirc7. See Ex. 22 and 23. OSC presented its Due
Diligence rinding ' to the Boan n l1 April 8, 2010 . Mr. Davila's and Ms.
R J lnirez 's separate responses to the April 1, 2010 OSC letters both denied
t11,,[ Mr. Davila had any financial interest in J's Quality. See Ex. 24 and
f:_
't.;,
:.U
Abel Davila's rok :n gettin)5
,~.
]hired by an HCC vendor
. r' Trustee Yolanda Navarro Flores' thiry-seven year-old
-.~
rI
"!I
Navarra Flc:re~. has rep2.~tcdly tried to get hert ]hired directly
in the pas!. " .
.J has wo rked for years with Mr. John Farrar
wilh Jackson Hili Interests/Full Moon Builders/Full Moon Services.
"1vL
nee
by
[fer more detail, see discussion pertaining to Ms. Navarro Flores below.]
Mr Davila to)d~,pr . Spangler that. Ms. Navarro Flores had asked him to
hel p get her\.. j l1red by an Hee vendor. Dr. Spangler says that she
um1crstood that M r. Davila had done so, although at different times in her
in terv iew s she W ilS not clear whether he told her that directly or she
son ie!10\'1 inferred it. Full IVIoon Builders and/or Full Moon Services has
1l81~8.5
l'vls. Terese Ruess Assistant District Attonley Public Integrity - Division Chief Harris County District ,\11omey's Office
October 22, 20! 0
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGA TORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Pnge 16
b(:en paid as a subcontractor on BCC projects by Fort Bend Mechanical.
fonrt Bend's repol1s to HCC shov.{L..
Jas the contact person
Oil that work for Full Moon Builders/Services. See Ex . 26.
4. P{:ter Nguyen's proposal to lease the old Macy's space at Sharpstown MalJ
to HCC with implied potential financial benefit for former Trustee Davila.
Tn summer 2009, an architect named C.C. Lee approached Dr. Tyler about
Bee !easing the Macy's property in the old Sharpstown Mall. Mr. Lee's
friend, Vincent Chao, had purchased the building and askedMr. Lee to
check with his contacts at BCC to see if they were interested in leasing the
space. Mr. Lee met with Dr. Tyler, Dr. Spangler, Trustee Abel Davila,
and Tl1Jstee Neeta Sane. Dr. Tyler told Mr. Lee that the entire Board of
Twstees would have to decide, but that 300,000 square feet was too much
space for Bee . Mr. Lee contacted Dr. Tyler by email several times
thlougbout the fall of 2009 and early months of 2010 to see if HCC
wanted to lease the property.
In April 20 J 0, Peter Nguyen contacted Dr. Tyler and told him that he now
held the option on the Macy's property and could make HCC a better offer
th:m Mr. Lee's. Dr. Tyler responded that BCC was not interested. Mr.
Nguyen responder! that he had a relationship with the HCC Trustees,
in! imating that it included Trustee NavalTa Flores and Mr. Davila, and that
he would get the votes from Bee to lease this property. Dr. Tyler
understood that Mr. Davila had told Dr. Spangler that Mr. Davila would
still control the HCC Board after he stepped down at the end 0[2009. Dr.
Tyler believed Me Nguyen to be saying that Trustee Navarro Flores and
A bel Davila had a financial interest or would eam a commission if HCC
I 'a,' ed the Macy's space. t'llr. Nguyen stated that he and a female business
partner would make it "worth his whiJc" whether it was the Macy's
property or any other property that I-ICC needed to lease. Mr. Nguyen
asked Dr. Tyl er to just tell him whatever property HCC wanted to lease
anel lie would buy that property and lease it to HCC. A poor quality
recording o f Dr. Tyler' S conversation w ith ML Nguyen is provided with
thi:' report. See Ex. 2.7.
1.'lllis same issue is repeated
Yo randa Navarro F lores.J
131114R.5
IJ1
the seciion below dealing with Trustee
-.1 \"l
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity -­ Division Chief
Harris County District J\ ttomcy's Office
October 22, 2010
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Page 17
5. Y ·tffe/Deutser
Mr_ Davila's accepted uncompensated professional services from HCC
vendor yaffe4>eutser
.
pertainif!g to the joiGt billboard campaign with Mr.
_ .\ in the fall of 2009 before Mr.
Oavila'l _JHISD TrusteeCDavila announced he was not going to run for re-election. Mr. Deutser
provided his services on that project without charging Mr. Davila because
Mr. Deutser thought the campaign s_howiD~ the connection between Mr.
D avila's service with HCC and hisF
service at HISD might benefit
Hce. Mr. Davila, however, did n~ repmit such services as a campaign
co ntribution in kind_ Mr. Deutser did bill Mr. Davila for the third party
CQ<.;ts associated with producing and displaying the billboards. Mr. Davila
did report as campaign expenditures the amounts he reimbursed
Y (I ffe/Dcutser for those third-party costs YaffefDeutser paid for those
bi Ilboards. See Ex. 5 at Tab 13 on f1agged page.
6. Persons interviewed with knowledge ofMr. Davila' s involvement on these
lJ:;\ hers . Synopses of their interviews are compiled alphabetically in
Exhi bit 3_
Brad Boerger
Renee Byas
Winston Dahse
Abel Davila
Jarv is Hollingswort'l
Pete Medford
Tmstee elu-is Oli ver
J esse Patrick
t ;l" ~to r Perez
Fahyian Pierre
.J o(~ lyne
Ramirez
D r. Mary Spangler
Art Tyler
n
7. fer,sons not interviewed hut ex pected to have knowledge
r-J
oh \! F alTar
'-
.
-~
-~
._
II
I
Tm stee Y ol an cta Navarro Flores
Ala -, Tolmston
Jo n, ; Thom as
Ms. Terese lJuess
Assistant District Attorney
Pliblic Integrity - Division Chief
Harris Connty District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
Page 18
8.
PRIV[LEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERlAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Documents
A.
Documents earlier referenced in this section
Ex. I - OSC Due Diligence Findings binder reBarding Abel Davila
dated April 8, 2010
Ex. 4 .' Investigator's initial report regarding numerous people /
companies
Ex. 5 - Abel Davila campaign reports / contributions dated 1998 Jan 2010
Ex. 6 - Secretary of State web page with original filing date of J's
Quality (December J5, 2008)
Ex. 7 - Regular Board Meeting minutes dated December 11,2008
Ex. R - Fort Bend Mechanical's response to Larry Veselka's
inquiries and payment history made to 1's Quality and Full Moon
Ex. 9 - Fort Bend Mechanical payments to J's Quality per
subcontract fomls
Ex. 10 - EmRil from Ms. Hamilton showing designated
subcontractors for Chevron (1's Quality and Fort Bend
Mechanical) dated April 7, 2009
Ex . 11 - Srecial Board Meeting minutes dated May 21,2009
Ex. 12 - Email communications between Chevron and J's Quality /
Jocelyne Hamirez
Ex. 13 . . Commiltee of the Whole Meeting minutes dated June 18,
2009
Ex i4 - Agenda for Regular Board meeting dated June 25, 2009
Ex. 15 .. Regular Board Meeting minutes dated June 25, 2009
Ex . 16 - Maintenance Painting Services Contract between J's
Quality and BCeS dated July 8, 2009
J3814R'i
Ms. Terese 13uess Assistant District Attomey Public Integrity - Division Chief Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERlAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Page 19
Ex. 17 .. Maintenance Painting Services Contract Amendment
between 1's Quality and BCeS signed October 8, 2009
Ex. 18 - Lease Assignment, unsigned, with 1's Quality for office
space at 2000 North Loop West Suite 110
Ex. 19··· Dr. Tyler's Chronology notebook regarding J's Quality
Ex. 20 - J's Quality Conflict of Interest disclosure signed March 5,
2010
Ex. 21 - Email to Dr. Tyler from Brad Boerger dated March 26,
2010 providing information from Yahoo web search regarding
Abel Davila and J's Quality
Ex. 22 - OSC letter to Abel Davila dated April 1, 2010
Ex. 23 - OSC letter to Jocelyne Ramirez / 1's Quality dated April
1,20] 0
if.;
'''i'
Ex. 24 .. Abel Davila's response dated April 12, 2010 to OSC letter
Ex. 25 - Jocelyne Ramirez / 1's Quality response dated April 13,
2010 to OSC letter
Ex. 26 - Fort Bend Mechanical subcontract participation reports
and payments regarding Full Moon
Ex. 27·· Recording of Dr. Tyler's conversation with Peter Nguyen
8.
Additional source documents
• Ex. 28 - Fort Bend Mechanical reports to HCC regarding small
business component
• Ex. 29 -Notebook on #09-36 Contract
• Ex. JO - 1's Quality proposal for Contract #09-36
Q
Ex. 31- Armando Lopez, Ms. Ramirez's lawyer, letter to Larry
Veselka dated June 16, 2010
9.
Cn~dibility
Allhough Abel Davila
Administration on behalf
IJRHR .'i
denies advocating directly with BCC
Quality, this denial conflicts with what
or ]'s
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attomey
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Hanis County District. i\.ttomey's Office
October 22, 20 I 0 Page 20 PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERlAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
several other persons interviewed said. Dr. Tyler sain it was Mr. Davila
that promoted J's Qual.ity for a mentee/subcontract role in the Chevron
ESP Contract #09-32. Dr. Spangler, Dr. Tyler, and Brad Boerger all
c()nfirmed Mr. Davila's furious berating of the Administration and
Chevron for not consummating a suhcontract with J's Quality at the
meeting at Abel Davila's restaurant on October 26, 2009. Mr. Davila
cknied discussing 1's Quality'S subcontract status in that meeting.
The credibility of the recoHection of Dr. Spangler, Dr. Tyler, and Mr.
Boerger is fu.rther supported by the fact that their statements could be
interpreted to implicate them in inappropriate conduct. That they were
willing to accommodate Mr. Davila's demand that J's Quality (and the
olher tlu·ee subcontractors designated by some I-ICC Board members) be
hi red by Chevron as subcontractors could be construed as quid pro quo
agreement for Mr. Davila's voting for and arranging other Board members
tc' vote for the award of the contract.
Tl1at the Board's consideration of the Painting Contract #09-36 was added
to the Board's June 25, 2009 Board meeting without having been
presented at the June 18th meeting of the Committee of the Whole, as was
the usual procedure, and which would have required Mr. Davila's
involvement, also contradicts Mr. Davila's denials of involvement.
(1'~1•
. .
'
tv·ir. Davila's credibility is ,lisa hurt by his failure to disclose to other
Board members or the Administration his past personal relationship with
Ms. Ramirez (eg, her heing one of his students and her being an
empioyee at one of his pharmacies) and his failure to disclose the financial
benefit he received from J's Quality's assumption of the lease on his 2000
Nl)rth Loop office.
M,>. Ramirez's claim that she never discussed the Prime Painting Contract
ff(J9-36 with Mr. Davila beggars credulity in light of her admitted close
familial reiationship with Mr. Davila. FUl1hermore, Ms. Byas said that
Ms. Ram.irez did not have a business address for J's Quality when Ms.
R vas contacted her to finalize the #09-36 Contract in early July 2009. Ms.
K..!mirez had to get back to Ms. Byas with a business address, which was
t\1(: address of Abel Davila's business. It would be hard to believe that
M.s. Ramirez got permission to use that address without discussing it with
Mi". Davila. It should be noted that the unsigned Lease Agreement
produced by Me l);wiJa's counsel was to be effective August 1,2009.
.>-:.-...,.~.,,":;
.. '.~
. '
"
)38l485
Ms. Terese Blless
Assistant District Attorney
Puhlic Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Page 21
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGATOR Y MATERlAL
ATrORNEY WORK PRODUCT
P(:te Medford, President of Fort Bend Mechanical, said that he was
introduced to Jocelyne Ramirez by Abel Davila, probably at a political
fundraiser. The history of payments to 1'8 Quality by Fort Bend
rv'!echanical for subcontract services shows J's Quality received
$ ~)72,745.71 on projects for HCe and HISD between December 19, 2008
and July 15,2009, with at least $237,000.00 of that amount attributable to
BeC projects. Se(~ Ex. E. The payments commenced immediately after
Fmt Bend Mechanical was awarded its JOC Contract #09-04, by the HCC
B'; lard on December 11,2008. See Ex. 7, pp. 8-9.
Investigators should note that Exhibit 8 shows that Fort Bend Mechanical
aho began payments to subcontractor Full Moon Builders/Services in
})~cember 2008. In light of Abel Davila's telling the Administration that
th,~ Chevron ESP Contract #09-32 would be approved if the
Administration would get Chevron to agree t.o use certain subcontractors
selected by the Board, Fort Bend Mechanical's decision to begin using J's
Qlmlity (and Pull Moon) as subcontractors contemporaneously with the
Board's consideration and award of the JOC contract to Fort Bend
Mechanical could have resulted from some direct or indirect
understanding between Abel Davila and Fort Bend Mechanical, possibly
tbrough its new representative John Thomas. Mr. Thomas had previously
represented RHJ, which had been the sole JOC contractor for HCC before
Ih ~! decision in November-December 2008 to award JOC contracts to three
firms at once to give BCe availabic alternatives to get services performed
if one JOe was unavailable (as had happened with RHJ after Hurricane
lkt~ ).
(.'
. ,l
\ :'!!
Fort Bend Mechanical's payments to J's Quality ended iri July 2009
contemporaneous with the execution of 1's Quality's own Prime Painting
Contract #09-36 fo r up to $1.5 million for maintenance painting services.
These painting services duplicate the services that BCC could get and had
been getting under the JOe contracts. In fact, much of the painting
services under the JOe contract were already being done by J's Quality.
See Ex. 9. Thus, it is hard to di scern any benefit to Hee from stripping
thl:se painting services out of the JOC contracts to be coveted by a
se arate contract. The only beneficiary would appear to be J's Quality,
which was now guaranteed 10 do the work and no longer dependent on
Fort Bend Mechanical or one of the other two JOC contractors to select J's
Qu ality for any maintenance painting projects HCC needed. It should be
no l ed that John Thomas, who had helped Fort Bend Mechanical get the
.1 (' C Co ntract in December 2008, assisted J's Quality in getting the Prime
Painting Contract #09-36 in June 2009.
I3Rl~R.5
[1'1J Ms. Terese Suess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Pnge 22
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGA TOR Y MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
l. 'ony Garcia, one of the owners of a company that had done work for
FCC in the past, reported that he quit seeking HCC work after a
conversation with Mr. Davila, who told Mr. Garcia that to get HCC work,
Mr. Garcia knevv what he would need to do, which Mr. Garcia understood
to mean to do what the Trustees want done. After Abel Davila's role in
getting the expedited award of Contract #09-36 to J's Quality on June 25,
21)09, 1's Quality assumed the lease obligation for Abel Davila's company
all the 2000 North Loop office. Whether the financial benefit of that lease
a greement was a quid pro quo with Abel Davila for the award of the prime
C o ntract #09-36, i.e. part of some understanding or promise to compensate
A bel Davila, is not known. Even if not a quid pro quo constituting a
potential bribe under Texas Penal Code §36.01, the benefit conveyed
could constitule a prohibited gift to a Public Servant under Texas Penal
Code §36.08-09 .
B.
'Y ola n d a NHvarr Flores
I.
Background on Persons Involved
Yolanda NavalTo Flores is a sixty-three year-oid Hispanic female. She is
Bee Board of Trustees. Trustee Navarro Flores
is a lawyer and maintains her own law practice, Law Office of Yolanda
Nn.varro Flores, located at 4801 Irvington Blvd, Houston, TX 77009.
T rustee Navarro Flores ~as elected to the HCC Board in ~O I and re­
ekcted in 2007. She is I
.. Results of
background info nnatioA- and public records searches by ' our private
investigator are included as Exhibit 4.
a current member of the
1
,.....
~...} s Ms. Flores't-': -'1
He is a thirty-seven year-old
l'ii,> panic male who is involved with vaious construction and infonnation
technology businesses in the Houston area. He is a memberlma.!lager of
Ja ckson Hill Interests, LLC, along with JOM Farrar, which is d/b/a Full
M oon B uil ders, which is located at Ms. Flores' law office address, 4801
Irv ing1ol1 Blvd, HOllston, TX 77009.
'--is listed in various public
documents as the owner of Full Mo'ml Buildert. See e.g. Ex. 32. Fort
Bend Mechanical, (\ JOC contractor for HCe, hired Full Moon Builders as
a S1Jbcontractor to perform painting and fence work. See Ex. 26. Results
of background infOlmation and public records searches by our private
inv (~sti gato r are included i'lS part of Exhibit 4.
r
John FalTar is a principal of Full Moon Services, LLC.
13RI4IU
Ms. Terese Buess Assistant District Attorney Public Integrity - Division Chief Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22,2010
Page 23
PRlVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
P'(~te McdfOl:d, owner of Fort Bend Mechanical, has dealt directly with
Juhn Fanar in hamJling the su!Jcontract business performed by Full Moon.
Mr. Medford me L.__ _
.~ a politicaLfundraiser for Trustee Navarro
jrecommended Full Moon and
Flores. According to Medford,[~ _
John Farrar to him .
Brad Deutser is a principal of Yaffe/Deutser, a consulting, marketing, and
advertising firm.
2.
T1Ustee Navarro Flores and Full Moon Builders/Services
pwns
Public records indicate thatl
.
or is involved with Full
Moon Builders, a Fort Bend Mechanical subcontractor. Full Moon's
business address was shown as 4801 Irvington Boulevard, the same as
Yolanda Navarro Flores's business address. OSC reported in its initial
finding that Fut! Moon Builders had been paid $22,300.00 for its work on
the Fort Bend Mechanical JOC Contract #09-04 with BCC. The actual
reports given FCC by Fort Bend Mechanical reflect payments potentially
aggregating more than $40,000.00 to Full Moon Builders at the 4801
Irvington address and to Full Moon Services at a separate Mayfair address.
In fact, someone actually stlUck out the typed reference to Full Moon
Builders on one of the forms and replacep-it with Full1::0on Services.
However the documents clearly showed
as the contact
-. person. See Ex. 26.
.•
'
ri:.:
'<iI'
.~
.
"'--"'
.~
It is instmctive 10 llote that payments to Full Moon started on December 5,
2008, six days before I-ICC awarded the JOC Contract #09-04 to Fort
Bf~nd Mechanical. See Ex. 7 and 8. It is of further interest to note that,
'Nhen Fort Bend Mechanical submitted its bid for the 2010 JOC Contract
avrardin, October 2009, fort Bend a.g.~ listed Ful~
. oon Services at the
Lf801 irvIngton Boulevard address WlthL
~ the contact person.
(. I~ ~3 . .~.J
,--) i_'~ , ~x. j
Tmstee Navarro Flores never disclosed any ~...
lnvolvement
with a subcontracT or on the Fort Bend Mechanical Contract #09-04 for
which she voted. Fort Bend Mechanical submitted infonnation showing
tOi 1 i payments to Full Moon Builders/Services of $162,947.00 for
HCClHT D and other projects. However, the project managers who say
they know what subcontractors work on HCC facilities say they have no
memory of Full Moon Builders/Sen/ices ever working on an HCC project.
.,
.~
..
'~ '.'
Or April 7, 20 I 0, lICe 's Office of Systemwide Compliance sent Trustee
N i1 arro Flores a letter slating that it was in possession of infonnation
.:~ .
.~
~ .
138148.5
Ms. Terese Guess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Divis.ion Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
Octo her 22, 2010
P~ge 24
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
directly conneclinf
.
]with Full Moon Builders, a
sllbcontractor for 1'ort Bend Mechamcal, a JOC contractor for I·ICC. See
Ex. 34. The next day, Ms. Navarro Flores responded to Chancellor
Spangler that "no,"..=JiS not and has never been an owner, an
employee, or in any way associated with Full Moon Builders, and no
conflict of inter.est exi~." [emphas)$ added]. See Ex. 35. No mention
was made oflli~r son,JII~9_ named
.
Trustee Navarro Flores has
rdused to be interviewed
uIlhaS-also refused to be interviewed.
Messages left for John FarrTr were never returned ..
J
A s explained with regclrd fa Mr. Davila in his section above, Mr. Davila
told Di. Spangler that Ms. Navarro Flores had asked Mr. Davila to help
gd her r-~ hired by an HCC vendor. Dr. Spangler says that she
uYlderstood at Mr. Davila had done so, although at different times she
\,,,;)S not clear whether he told her that directly or she somehow inferred it.
3.
i'•_.
DI~. alings
between Trustee N,warro Flores and YaffelDeutser
T , ustee Navarro Flores demanded that YaffelDeutser provide free
cmnpaign and advertising services and materials, including billboards, for
her re-election campaign in 2007 and for her unsuccessful primary
('ilailenge to an incumbent state senator. According to Mr. Deutser,
Tlustee Navarro Flores insinuateci that jf Yaffe/Deutser did not provide
these free services and materials it would Jose its HCC contract and lose
business in the Hispanic community, Trustee Navarro Flores was very
ckar to Mr. Deutser that no one was to find out about the work
'{affe/Deutser was performing for her campaign. Ivir. Deutser felt that his
company's Hee contract was be:ing threatened ifhe did not comply.
,.
A, part of YaffclDeufscr's work for Hee pertaining to an annexation
ekction, Ms. Navarro Flores contacted Mr. Deutser and instructed him to
lIS (~ Mr. Nef Partida to handle matters pertaining to Spanish-language
m ;dia or aime'; at the Hispanic corrummity. !vIr. Deutser felt he was
rf ~: p onsible [or t~e work an c~ , therefore, needed to select his
suhccntracLi:'s, if and when he decided they were needed, and to control
their vmrk. According to Mr. Deutser, Ms. Navarro Flores said that Mr.
Partip3 (implicitly ltnder her direction) should control those decisions.
Mr. Deulser deCided he could work with Mr. Partida since they had
worked together on previous matters. Later, Mr. Partida infonned Mr.
Deutser that be had gotten politically cross-wise with Ms. Navarro Flores
and he might need to get {mother Hispanic subcontractor. Me. Deutser
decided to keep Me Partida.
-•..~
·:': t~
I1R I ~8.5
Ms. Terese B\less Assistant District Attomey Pllblic Integrity - Divi!:;ion Chief Harris County District Attorney's Office
PRlV [LEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
October 22, 20 I 0
P:1ge 25
1\-1S. NavalTo Fiorcs then contacted or
had Mr. Deutser contacted by Ms.
l jnda Morales, a woman who served Ms. Navarro Flores in the political
(Irena. Mr. Deutser was told that Ms. Morales would replace Mr. Partida
and would make the decisions regarding the Hispanic component of the
v.;ork. Ms. Morales also demanded that the compensation for that work be
increased substantially. Mr. Deulser did not agree to do so. At one point
Ms. Morales suggested that Mr. Deutser use Mr. Manuel Barrera as the
subcontractor but intimateq that she (and implicitly) Ms. Navarro Flores
would actually be calling the shots. Mr. Deutser resisted these changes
even though he fclt Ms. Navarro Flores was threatening to get his work for
Bee cut orf if he did not agree. Along the way Ms. Navarro Flores or
M.g. Morales accused one of Mr. Deutser's associates of racism.
Ultimately Mr. Dcutser complained to Dr. Spangler, who told him to
ignore Ms. Navarro Flores' threats, rrnd to Mr. Davila, who suggested he
di scuss the matter 'Nith Board Counsel Jarvis Hollingsworth. Mr. Deutser
discussed the matter with Mr. Hollingsworth, as he did the issues of the
unpaid services described Rnove. Mr. Deutser was informed he did not
need to report it fi.lrther.
Tn place these activities in greater context, the HeC Board has had
another internai investigation into Ms. Navarro Flores' dealings. See Ex.
3(;, report of the Hon . Alvin Zimmerman. That investigation lead to the
Bilard's censuring Ms. Navarro Flores. See Ex. 37.
4. Pl' ter Nguyen's proposal to lease old Macy's space at Sharpstown mall to
financial benefit for Trustee Navarro Flores.
Bee with implied potential
[This is the same description as given in Mr. Davila's section above]
In summer 2009, an architect named c.c. Lee approached Dr. Tyler about
H CC leasing the Macy 's property in the old Sharpstown Mall. Mr. Lee's
fri l?-nd, Vincent Chao, bad purchased the building and asked Mr. Lee to
cbeck with hi~ contacts at Hee to see if they were interested in leasing the
space . ~.;[r. Lee met with Dr. Tyler, Dr. Spangler, Trustee Abel Davila,
and Trustee Nccta Sane. Dr. T yl er told Mr. Lee that the entire Board of
Tlilstees would have to decide, but that 300,000 square feet was too much
sVlce for BCe. Mr. Lee contacted Dr. Tyler by email several times
throughout the f?.\J of 2009 and early months of 2010 to see jf HCC
wHnted to lease th e property.
In pril2010, Peter Nguyen contacted Dr. Tyler and told him that he now
hel · the Opli Cfl on the Macy ' ~ property and could make HCC a better offer
. .~
' ·ff'
IJ814R .S
Ms . Terese Buess
Assistant District Attomey
Public rntegrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
Page 26
PRlVfLEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
[NVESTIGATORY MATERlAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
than Me Lee's. Dr. Tyler responded that HCC was not interested. Mr.
Nguyen responded that he had a relationship with the HCC Trustees,
intimating that it included Trustee Navarro Flores and Mr. Davila, and that
he would get the votes from Bee to lease this property. Dr. Tyler
IHlderstood th<i(: Me Davila had told Dr. Spangler that Mr. Davila would
sti II control the BCC Board after he stepped down at the end of 2009. Dr.
Tyler believed Me Nguyen to be saying that Trustee Navarro Flores and
Abel Davila had a financial interest or would earn a commission if Hee
leased the Macy's space. Me Nguyen stated that he and a female business
partner would make it "worth his while" whether it was the Macy's
pwperty or any other property that HCC needed to lease. Mr. Nguyen
asked Dr. Tyler to just tell him whatever property HCe wanted to lease
and he vvould buy that property and lease it to HCC. A poor quality
recording of Dr. Tyler's conversation with Mr. Nguyen is provided with
this report. See Ex. 27.
5. Arrangement to work for law firm engaged by HCC.
Mr. Jay Aiyer, a FOlmer Bee Trustee who was prosecuted by the HCDAO
regarding some public records issues several years ago, was told by Bill
Kin g, then a shareholder with Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP,
w hich film collects propelty taxes for HCe, that he had arranged to have
M ~. Navarro Flores come to work for the finn under some agreement. Ms.
Navarro Flores was ultimately not brought on board by the firm because of
hel decision to run for the State Senate against the incumbent.
6. Persons interviewed with knowledge of Ms. Navarro Flores' involvement
on these matters. Synopses of their interviews are compiled alphabetically
in l':xh ibit 1.
Renee Byas
Brl1d Dentser
Jarvis l f011ingsworth
c.c. Lee
Pct(~ Medford
J e s '~ e Patrick
H edor Perez
T ntstee Mary Ann Perez
Fabyian Pierre
Randy SahnilJay Aiyer
Dr. Mary Spangler
Dr. An Tyler
1381~R . 5
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attomey
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
P~ge 27
7.
PRiViLEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Persons not interviewed but expected to have knowledge
Manuel Barrera Farrar
.--,
,"Jo1m
Trustee Yolanda Navarro Flores .
Bill King
Linda Morales
N efPartida
R.
Documents
Documents earlier referenced in this section
Ex. 2 - OSC fjlle Diligence Findings binder regarding Yolanda
Navarro Flores
a. dated April 8,2010
b. dated April 11,2010
Ex . 4 - Investigator's initial report regarding numerous people /
companies
Ex. 7 - Regular Board Meeting minutes dated December 11, 2008
Ex. 8 - Fort Bend Mechanical's response to Larry Veselka's
inquiries and payment history made to 1's Quality and Full Moon
Ex. 26 - Fort Bend Mechanical subcontract participation reports
and payments regarding Full Moon
Ex. 27 . Recording of Dr. Tyler's conversation with Peter Nguyen
:;
1.
.
'
r
Lx
. .;2
- 4.1
,. 1.com web seatch
regardmg
f'llll Moon Builders
,,) onnection to
i:x, ] 3 - Contractor and Subcontract Participation Form
(Attachment 8) dated October 15, 2009 listing Full Moon Services
Ex . 34 - OSC Jetter to Yolanda Navarro Flores dated April 7,2010
ex. 35 - Yolanda NavaHO Flores' email response dated April 12,
2010 to ~: SC letter
DRI1R .S
Ms. Terese Ruess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris Caimty District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Page 28
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGATORY MATERJAL
ATfORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Ex. 36 - Alvin Zimmerman investigation report dated May 20,
2010 regarding complaints made by Dr. Tyler against Yolanda
Navarro Flores
Ex. 37 - Board's Resolution of Censure dared May 27, 2010
regarding Yolanda Navarro Flores
B
Potential additional documents
II>
9.
YaffefDeutser emails and accounting records (Mr. Deutser said
he had these documents but did not provide them to SKY).
Credibility
Although Trustee Navarro Flores has refused to be interviewed, her
response to the Office of Systemwide Compliance's inquiry hurts her
credibility with ~spect to any iss~~ reg,arding Full Moon. -, Trustee
N"varro Flores's
named\"
..J but so is hed
. Trustee
Navarro Flores could ha,;einforrnecl
that it was actualtyh~LJwho
W3S involved with Full Moon BUilder~s
but instead she carefully parsed
words an d denied only that her'
as involved while claiming that
~
she; had no conflict of interest.
is
me
-
Mr Medford said th~ he met with Mr. John Farrar to get him to confinn
to Mr. M edford that(
_
'ldid not cwn any part of Full Moon
ServicesJ:mt this plU'vides slight c~verage in light of the documents
sh(.wi li gVJt___
'as a member of Jackson Hill Interests, for which Full
_ J
M00n
ll ildcrs W(l~ ; merel y a d/h/a_
Also Fort Bend Mechanical's
do(umen!s routinely referred to payments to Full Moon Builders and
shows
1.'1 the contact person.
The fact that Fort Bend
Me(;ha~al only -S1~rts pi1ying Full Moon Builders less than one week
before Fort Bend Mechanical's JOe Contract comes before the HCC
Bmlrd drowns out Mr. Medford ' s protestations_
Brau Deutser appears to be a credible witness. In the fall of 2009, before
this investigation began, he approached the Board's counsel, Jarvis
Holl ingsworth, regarding YaffelDeutser's provision of conSUlting services
and advel1ising mat clials for free at T rustee Navarro Flores's insistence
and the pressure he received about using subcontractors dictated by Ms .
NavalTo Flores. Mr. Deutser's credibility is buoyed by the fact that the
inf o matron he shared could be construed against his interest as possibly
providin g a gift to a public servant.
IJR14R .5
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District II ttomey' s Office
October 22, 2010
P"ge 29
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Dr. Tyler has no incentive to lie about the potential lease of the former
Nlacy's space at Sharpstown Mall. After he realized that something
pntentiaHy illegal was happening, he recorded a conversation with Mr.
Nguyen and provided it to SKY. Dr. Tyler has been forthright about all
topics discussed with him. Dr. Tyler's statements are also consistent with
statements by Trustee Neeta Sane lmd C.c. Lee regarding this issue.
C. Diane O lmos Guzman
1. Background on Persons Involved
Diane Olmos Guzman is a fifty-four year-old Hispanic female . She is the
President and CEO of D.O. Communications, a public relations and
marketing finn. Ms . (3uzman was elected to the HCC Board of Trustees
in 2003, and lost her bid for re-election in 2009. Results of background
information and public records searches by our private investigator are
included as part of Exhibit 4.
BI-ad Deutser is a principal of YaffefDeutser, a consulting, marketing, and
8c!vertising firm.
2. J)(~8Iings
between Ms. Guz man and Yaffe/Deutser
Ar:cording fo Brad Deutser, Ms. GuzInan carne to him and asked for
billboards for her campaign. Ms. Guzman reported that she did not have
the money at that time, but would be able to pay for the requested
billhoards soon . Ms. Guzman approved the billboards but did not pay for
the m. T he cost of the completed billboards was approximately $15,000.
Ms. Guzman later told Mr. Deutser that she thought they were a gift.
However, ~1'v1s. Guzman reported on her campaign finance disclosure report
that she reimbursed Yaffe/Deutser for its services and materials used in
connection with the biHboards. See Ex. 38. YaffelDeutser has never
rc(' eived any payment from Ms. Guzman. Ms. Guzman's actions appear
to be violations of Texas Pena i Code § 39, Abuse of Office, and Texas
Ek ction Code § 254 .m 1, Campaign Finance Disclosure.
1. Persons interviewed with knowledge of Ms. Guzman ' s involvement in this
m:illcr
r, n d Dcutser
T n lstee M a ry A nn Perez
13R14R .S
Ms. Terese [3uess Assistant District Attorney Public Integrity - Division Chief Harris County Di strict Attorney's Office
October 22 , 2010
Page 30
4.
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERrAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Persons not interviewed but expected to have knowledge
Diane Olmos Guzman
5.
Documents
A.
Documents earlier referenced in this section
Ex. 4 - rnvestigator's initial report regarding numerous people /
companies
Ex. 38 - Diane Olmos Guzman's Political Expenditures report
dated September 10, 2009 regarding YafeelDeutser
Potential additional documents
• . YaffefDeutser accounting reports (Mr. Deutser said he had
these documents but did not provide them to SKV).
6.
Credibility
Ms. Guzman has refused to be interviewed.
Again, Brad Deutser appears to be a credible witness regarding this issue.
He has nothing to gain from lying about Ms. Guzman's request for
billboards or her nonpayment for Yaffe/Deutser'~ervices.
D.
Christopher Oliver
1.
. Background on Persons Involved
Christopher JOliver is a forty-seven year-old African-American male. Mr.
Oliver is the owner/CEO of Tekoa Property Management Group, Inc., a
construction cleaning company formed in 1997. He was first elected to
the Board of Trustees in 1995, reelected in 2001 and 2007, and served as
Chairman in 1999 and 2007. Results of background information and
public records searches by our private investigator are included as part of
Exhibit 4.
2.
Mr. Oliver's employment by Fort Bend Mechanical
]n January 2009 or early February, Pete Medford at Fort Bend Mechanical
asked Trustee Oliver's business, Tekoa Property Management, to perform
clean-up work at a few projects Fort Bend Mechanical was doing for Fort
lJRI4 8.S
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 10
Pnge 31
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGA TORY MATERIAL
ATIORNEY WORK PRODUCT
13end ISO. John Thomas at Fort Bend Mechanical knew Trustee Oliver
and told Mr. Medford about Mr. Oliver's business.
As described in the section dealing with Mr. Davila's involvement on
behalf of 1's Quality above, Fort Bend Mechanical submitted a bid in
November 2008 in response to an RFP for new JOC contractors. Fort
Bend Mechanical's bid included an Attachment No. 16, Conflict of
Interest Questionnaire that showed no conflicts. See Ex. 39. Fort Bend
Mechanical was awarded one of the JOC Contracts #09-04 on December
t I, 2008. Mr. Oliver disclosed no conflict of interest to the Board and
voted to award that contract to Fort Bend Mechanical. See Ex. 7, pp 8-9.
According to the schedule of payments submitted by Fort Bend
Mechanical, Mr. Oliver's company was first paid on March 4, 2009,
presumably for work done the preceding week or so. Those payments,
totaling $86,330.00 continued somewhat regularly through July 12, 2010,
about the time Fort Bend Mechanical provided such payment information
to SKV. Payments to Tekoa may be ongoing. Many of the payments
were in even numbers, e.g $7,000.00 on four occasions, $5,000.00 on
five. See Ex. 40 . During the early consideration of the Chevron ESP
Contract on April 7, 2009, Mr. Oliver infonned Dr. Tyler's assistant that
Fort Bend Mechanical was one of the subcontractors selected by at least
some members of the Board to be hired by Chevron as part of Mr.
Davila's understanding with the Administration. See Ex. 10. Mr. Oliver
did not disclose to the Administration or to other Board members his
business relationship to Fort Bend Mechanical at that time. The subject
came up in a conversation between Board Counsel Jarvis Hollingsworth
and General Counsel Renee Byas sometime the following week of April.
On or about April 18, 2009 Ms. Byas contacted Mr. Oliver to confirm the
existence of his business relationship to Fort Bend Mechanical and to
infonn him of his need to disclose the relationship because Fort Bend
Mechanical was an HCC vendor. Mr. Oliver submitted the Conflict of
Interest Disclosure fonn promptly on April 21, 2009. See Ex. 41.
•
Wben the Chevron ESP Contract #09-32 came before the Board on May
2), 2009, Mr. Oliver did not mention the disclosure or the conflict even
though he was working for Fort Bend Mechanical and he knew Fort Bend
Mechanical was supposed to get a subcontract from Chevron. See Ex. 11.
Later in 2009, HCC issued a new RFP for JOC contracts for 2010. Fort
Bend Mechanical submitted a bid with Attachment No. 16, the Conflict of
In1erest Questionnaire disclosing the relationship to Mr. Oliver's company
although the form was misdated as October 19, 2007 rather than October
IJR 14 8 .S
Ms. Terese Buess
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
Page 32
. INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATIORNEY WORK PRODUCT
\9,2009. See Ex . 42. The award of the new JOC Contracts #10-06 came
before the Board at the February 25, 2010 meeting. Having the conflict
disclosure form on file, Mr. Oliver complied with his statutory duty and
did not participate in the consideration or vote on the contract award. See
Ex. 43.
By letter dated April 12, 2010 but actually received by HeC on April 10,
2010, Fort Bend Mechanical submitted a new Conflict of Interest
QuestiOlUlaire correctly dated October 19, 2009 and also submitted a
Conflict of Interest Questionnaire dated March 3, 2009. See Ex. 44.
SKY received one anonymous letter and was provided a second
anonymous letter making accusations about Mr. Oliver. Other than what
is described above, we learned of nothing new other than Mr. Oliver's
approaching other HCC vendors (Arainark and G&G Construction) about
hiring his company on non-HCC projects. He was not hired by either.
See Ex. 45.
.
•
3.
Persons interviewed with knowledge of Mr. Oliver's involvement in this
matter. Synopses of their interviews are compiled alphabetically in
Exhibit 3.
Trustee Bruce Austin
Renee Byas
Jarvis Hollingsworth
Pete Medford
Trustee Christopher Oliver
Reynaldo Pradia
Lynden Rose
4.
Persons not interviewed but expected to have knowledge
J0hn Thomas
5.
Documents
A
Documents earlier referenced in this section
Ex. 4 - Investigator's initial report regarding numerous people I
compames
Ex. 39 - Fort Bend Mechanical bid proposal for Project #09-04
lJ814R.5
Ms. Terese Guess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
Page 33
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATIORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Ex. 40 - Fort Bend' Mechanical payments to Trustee Christopher
Oliver
Ex. 41 - Trustee Christopher Oliver's Conflict of Interest
disclosure signed April 21, 2009
Ex. 42 - Fort Bend Mechanical's letter to HCC dated October 19,
2009 providing Conflict of Interest disclosure dated October 19,
2007
Ex. 43 - Regular Board Meeting minutes dated February 25, 2010
Ex. 44 - Fort Bend Mechanical's letter to OSC dated April 12,
2010 providing Conflict ofInterest disclosures
Ex. 45 - Anonymous letters regarding Trustee Christopher Oliver
6.
Credibility
I-laving beena Trustee since 1995, and having twice served as Chainnan,
Trustee Oliver should be very familiar with the Conflict of Interest
Disclosure requirements. The HCC Board of Trustees receives an annual
update regarding the law on conflicts of interest and open government at a
Special Workshop conducted by the Board's outside counsel. Despite this
familiarity, and his knowledge that Tekoa was performing work for an
HCC contractor, Trustee Oliver did not file the required Conflict of
Interest Disclosure until prompted by HCC's General Counsel. However,
Trustee Oliver did file the form within the statutorily required seven days
of being notified of this conflict.
Trustee Oliver stated that he did not know anything about Fort Bend
Mechanical before it was presented for JOC contract in November 2008.
The first check from Fort Bend Mechanical to Tekoa was dated March 4,
2009, presumably for work 'performed in February 2009. Although it is
possible that there were discussions between Trustee Oliver and Fort Bend
Mechanical before Tekoa Property Management actually began doing
work for Fort Bend Mechanical, there is nothing to indicate when these
discussions took place.
E.
Hector f'erez
Hector Perez became Acting Director of Maintenance after Ms. Gloria
Walker and a number of HCC persons reporting to her, including the
138]48.5
Ms. Terese Buess Assistant District Attorney Public Integrity - Division Chief Harris County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 2010
P8ge 34
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
fNVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
previous Director of Maintenance, left HCC in the spring of 2008. During
our investigation we received information from some peopJe interviewed
claiming that Mr. Perez received benefits from vendors and/or cut off
work to vendors that would not provide benefits he requested. It was also
suggested that he got BCC vendors to perform work for Mr. Davila's
restaurant and for Ms. Navarro Flores' home. The vendors we contacted
about dealings with Mr. Perez and about performing services on Mr.
The sign vendor that
Davila's restaurant denied any impropriety.
perfonned work on Mr. Davila's restaurant confinned he did the work and
was paid by Mr. Davila. We received copies of the business records
showing payment made from the vendor and copies of the checks from
Mr. Davila. See Ex. 46 (from Mighty Works Signage) and Ex. 47.
We also received two anonymous letters accusing Mr. Perez of engaging
in potentially criminal actiyities. See Ex. 48. We found no credible
evidence to substantiate those claims. Mr. Perez believes that Fort Bend
Mechanical or others acting on their behalf or in concert with them are
behind these assertions. Mr. Perez got angry at Fort Bend Mechanical
because, during the round-the-clock work to bring the HCC campuses
back on-line after Hurricane Ike, someone from Fort Bend Mechanical
overheard Mr. Perez tell his father, who is a pastor of a church, that he
could not leave his HCC duties to go help his father repair the church's
damage from Ike. Fort Bend Mechanical provided help to Mr. Perez's
father without Mr. Perez asking or approving of Fort Bend doing that. Mr,
Perez was angry because Mr. Perez felt it was an attempt to compromise
Mr. Perez's integrity .
.
•
1. Persons interviewed with knowledge of Mr. Perez's involvement on this
matter
Winston Dahse
Tony Garcia
Alex and Maria Marin
Pete Medford
J~sse Patrick
H ector Perez
Faybian Pierre
Dr. Art Tyler
1381 48 .5
Ms. Terese Buess
Assistant District Attorney
Public Integrity - Division Chief
Hams County District Attorney's Office
October 22, 20 I 0
Page 35
2.
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
rNVESTIGATORY MATERIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Documents
A.
Documents earlier referenced in this section
Ex. 4 - Investigator's initial report regarding numerous people I
companies
Ex. 46 - Invoices and checks from Mighty Works Signage
Ex. 47 - Check from Abel Davila / Rico's to Mighty Works dated
May 27, 2009
Ex. 48 - Anonymous letters regarding Hector Perez
v.
Conclusion
We have described above the matters we were asked to investigate that we
concluded justified your office's consideration for potential further investigation and/or
consideration as to whether any criminal violations may have occurred. We have also
described other matters related to and discovered during our investigation about which
we thought it appropriate for you to be infonned while considering the primary matters.
We stand ready to provide any further assistance, whether through meetings to
discuss the infonnation submitted or to answer questions about other potential witnesses
or documents.
We have been asked by the BCC Board to report to them on our investigation and
to advise of any suggested actions they might want to consider taking in light of our
findings. In order to provide the greatest protection of the confidentiality of the
HCDAO's consideration of these matters, we will not do so unless or until you infonn us
that doing so will not in any way hamper or threaten to expose to the public the
HeDAO's conducting its secret and critical proseeutorial function.
Let me know if we may be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
i-t
LRV/lme
Enclosures
IJRI48.5