By Eduardo Rueda
taken to jail after sentencing in 2014
The Sweetwater Union High School District approved two legal settlements at a special board meeting Thursday that will bring the District $8.5 million and end the last remaining lawsuits stemming from a 2012 corruption scandal that led to 15 indictments.
The settlements resolve a series of lawsuits and cross complaints involving contractors that participated in what prosecutors called a “pay-to-play” scheme that led to the prosecution of several school board members, contractors, and then-Superintendent Jesus Gandara.
The District sued several contractors in 2014 to invalidate their contracts and demanded more than $14 million in refunds, claiming the contracts were illegal because they were awarded through the contractors’ use of campaign contributions and illegal gifts to school board members which violated state law.
Former Contractor Runs for Sweetwater School Board
By Alberto Garcia
The contractor that helped expose a corrupt “pay-to-play” culture at Sweetwater school district is now a candidate himself for a seat on the Board.
Hector Romero, who along with his company HAR Construction, sued the District in September 2011, claimed he was the victim of extortion by school board members and then-Superintendent Jesus Gandara.
In 2011, Romero turned over documents that helped District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis investigate and then charge 18 school officials and contractors from Sweetwater, San Ysidro school district, & Southwestern College. Every one of the defendants eventually pled guilty to a range of charges.