Three Texas Men Sentenced for Roles in Bribery Conspiracy

McALLEN, Texas – In a shocking turn of events, three Texas men have been sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy to pay bribes to two city commissioners in Weslaco in exchange for their official actions in connection with city contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced former Hidalgo County Commissioner Arturo C. Cuellar Jr., 69, of Progresso Lakes, to 20 years in prison yesterday. Ricardo Quintanilla, 57, and John F. Cuellar, 60, both of Weslaco, were sentenced to 198 months and three years in prison, respectively.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Arturo Cuellar and Quintanilla agreed with others to bribe two Weslaco City Commissioners, John Cuellar and Gerardo Tafolla, in exchange for official actions favorable to engineering companies seeking large contracts with the city. From approximately March 2008 through December 2015, one of the participants in the scheme received approximately $4.1 million from two engineering companies and shared nearly $1.4 million with Arturo Cuellar.

Arturo Cuellar used a company he controlled to facilitate the payment of approximately $405,000 in bribes to his cousin, John Cuellar, which were disguised as legitimate legal expenses. In exchange for these payments, John Cuellar took several official actions to benefit the companies, including helping to award contracts worth approximately $38.5 million to rehabilitate Weslaco’s water treatment facilities.

Quintanilla received approximately $85,000 during the course of the scheme and used that money to pay cash bribes to Tafolla for his official actions to benefit the companies that received the water treatment plant contracts.

Arturo Cuellar and Quintanilla were convicted at trial in the Southern District of Texas in October 2022. Arturo Cuellar was convicted of 61 counts in total, including one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, four counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of federal programs bribery, one count of money laundering conspiracy, 27 counts of money laundering, and 27 counts of Travel Act violations.

Quintanilla was convicted of 15 counts in total, including one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, four counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of federal programs bribery, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and eight counts money laundering. John Cuellar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud in August 2019.

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