Fairgrounds official charged with extorting security company for bribes
For release on August 15, 2024
CONTACT:
John Chase
Deputy District Attorney
Public & Law Enforcement Integrity Unit
(408) 792-2595
[email protected]
Fairgrounds official charged with extorting security company for bribes
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged the director of events and marketing of the county fairgrounds with extorting kickbacks from a security company.
Obdulia Banuelos-Esparza of San Jose solicited, accepted, and kept for herself hundreds and often thousands of dollars each month from the owner of 4 Diamond Security in exchange for her recommendation to her employer, the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Management Corporation (FMC), that the security company continue to be retained.
After paying the monthly bribes for more than a year, the company refused further payoffs and its contract with FMC was not renewed.
The 41-year-old defendant is expected to self-surrender on the warrant at which time the date will be set for her arraignment on felony charges of bribery and extortion in department 23 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of four years in the county jail.
“The fairgrounds are where our community goes for fairs, festivals, and fun,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Not felonies.”
The DA’s investigation began in September 2023 when the DA’s Office received a referral from the County Counsel’s Whistleblower Program of a citizen’s complaint alleging various types of wrongdoing, including the kickback scheme.
The investigation showed that Banuelos-Esparza asked the owner of the security company to pay her a percentage of the money the company would be receiving under its contract with FMC. When the owner initially refused, Banuelos-Esparza accused the company’s guards of sleeping on the job and warned that the contract was in jeopardy. She offered to intervene on the company’s behalf in exchange for the payments. She threatened that the company’s contract with FMC would be terminated if the payments were not made.
Pressured by the economic uncertainties at the height of the COVID Pandemic in the summer of 2020, the owner gave in and started paying Banuelos-Esparza monthly cash payments calculated at $1 per guard-hour worked. The payments started out at around $2,500 per month, but eventually grew to close to $4,000 per month.
The DA’s Office encourages anyone with information about this case or any similar scheme at the county fairgrounds to provide it Deputy District Attorney John Chase at [email protected].
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