Sylvia Handy pleads guilty

This article was published 1 year 11 months 4 days ago which may make its actuality or accuracy no longer valid. Foxrio2.com is not responsible for any misunderstanding.

Hidalgo county commissioner Sylvia Handy has no words and no comments as she walks out of the federal courthouse.

This after entering a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants and tax evasion.

Attorneys for handy work out a last minute deal just before jury selection in her public corruption trial

The agreement is that she resigned from office effective Tuesday and charges against her husband, Juan Gabriel Espronceda, are dismissed upon her sentencing set for June.

The phantom employee investigation started in 2007. FBI agents raided Handy’s office in June of that year, but she’s formally indicted in April of 2009.

All that time she maintained her innocence to allegations of hiring undocumented immigrants under the county’s payroll.

Two women tied to Handy’s case pleaded guilty last summer.

Court documents allege that more than $200-thousand dollars in taxpayer funds were collected from 2001 to 2007 in this public corruption case.