Angus McGinty, a state district judge from San Antonio, who resigned in February over the wafting aroma of corruption, has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
He's been charged with extortion, wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.
He allegedly reduced bail and provided other favors for four clients of Alberto Acevedo Jr., in exchange for Acevedo paying for work on two Mercedes-Benz vehicles the judge owned, and later selling one of them, or actually, unbeknownst to him, "selling" it to an undercover FBI agent. The four clients in the affadavit had been charged with aggravated robbery, theft of more than $200,000, DWI-third or more offense, for two of the clients.
In exchange, McGinty allegedly agreed to remove electronic monitoring requirements from some bailed-out clients, a remote alcohol monitor from one of the DWI clients, and adjusted original sentencing on one of the DWI clients.
The newspaper piece on the resignation notes that the FBI probe was originally focused on Acevedo. But, if you're wanting to bribe judges, there have to be real, live judges involved!
Acevedo pled guilty to the charges against him in March. Given the description of McGinty, I think he might be too stubborn to be that smart, at least at the start.
As for McGinty, this was his first term; he was elected as part of Texas' version of the anti-Obama red tide in 2010. Maybe, at the ballot box, a few other rats in more purplish areas will be flushed out of sewers in November.
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