Tarrant judge suspended after indictment (TX)

The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct has suspended Mario Perez after an April indictment on charges that he falsified campaign contributions of an Arlington school trustee.

Perez was suspended June 27 “because of a pending criminal trial,” according to the information posted on the commission’s website.

Greg Westfall, an attorney representing Perez, said Tuesday that when a judge is charged with a felony he is suspended with pay.

Perez was charged with six counts of tampering with a government record. He is accused of falsifying entries on a campaign finance report during Arlington school Trustee Aaron Reich’s 2009 campaign. No charges have been brought against Reich.

Until late last year, Perez was a partner in Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, a law firm specializing in delinquent tax collections. He persuaded the Arlington and Fort Worth school boards in 2009 and 2010 to drop the tax collection firms they had used for years and switch to the Linebarger law firm.

However, the Fort Worth school district canceled its contract last August and re-opened bidding after opinion columns in the Star-Telegram indicated that Perez contacted trustees during a “no lobbying” period. The firm also has not been charged in the case.

Perez was also appointed an associated judge in Forest Hill in 2011 to help with a backlog of cases. City Manager Sheyi Ipaye wrote in an e-mail that because Perez was suspended, he will recommend that Perez be removed as an associate municipal judge in Forest Hill.

Perez is charged with state felonies with sentences from 180 days to two years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

Attribution:

Tarrant judge suspended after indictment
Elizabeth Campbell
July 31, 2012
Star-Telegram.com
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/31/4142442/tarrant-judge-suspended-after.html