LAREDO INQUIRY HOT TOPIC DA SAYS BEING TARGET IS A STRAIN

LAREDO - The irony is not lost on Webb County District Attorney Joe Rubio.

As chief prosecutor in this border county for nine years, he's directed
hundreds of investigations of murderers, drug dealers and thieves. Now the
investigator is being investigated.

Mr. Rubio and eight of his assistant prosecutors are on the receiving end of
a federal investigation that apparently focuses on allegations of bribery
and fixing cases for criminals. The border town 150 miles south of San
Antonio is abuzz.

"As DA, I'm fair game. We'll have to see how the investigation unfolds to
see how to fight it. But the strain of the uncertainty has been tremendous
on me and my family," said Mr. Rubio, who has denied all wrongdoing. "It's
also been painfully hard on the people who work here, especially the clerks
and secretaries not named in the search warrants. They've been smeared with
the same broad accusations. That's not right."

Neither the FBI in Laredo nor the Houston-based federal prosecutor handling
the grand jury inquiry would discuss the case, citing federal prohibitions
against discussing active investigations.

It's the latest in a string of federal anti-corruption efforts in border
counties. Previous probes have targeted scores of public officials and led
to jail terms for three county sheriffs, among others. The overall effort
has fueled perceptions of endemic corruption in the area, authorities say.

In Laredo, the government is working as quickly as possible to finish the
investigation, said James DeAtley, U.S. attorney for the Southern District
of Texas.

"We are keenly aware of the need to balance the needs of an investigation
with its effects on the reputation of uninvolved individuals or the
community at large," Mr. DeAtley said. "It is certainly not our intent to
harm the conduct of business at the district attorney's office."

On Friday, May 29, more than 50 FBI and IRS agents swept through the Webb
County Courthouse, scooping up about 5,000 active and inactive criminal
files as well as personal papers, books and the contents of computer hard
drives.

That weekend, federal agents also executed search warrants on the homes of
Mr. Rubio and the eight assistant prosecutors as well as the homes and
offices of a justice of the peace, former state District Judge Ruben Garcia
and a bail bondsman.

The home of Mr. Rubio's father, Joe Rubio Sr., a longtime Laredo political
insider, was also searched. A month later, Mr. Garcia, now a Laredo lawyer,
pleaded guilty to conspiring with an unnamed assistant district attorney to
solicit thousands of dollars in bribes to fix cases for clients facing
criminal charges.

In return, he agreed to testify before the Victoria-based grand jury
investigating the district attorney's office.

Last week, a Webb County warrant officer pleaded guilty to illegally
obtaining someone's criminal record from an FBI database and selling the
information for $500.

All records in the case, including the 73-page affidavit used to obtain the
search warrants, remain sealed.

The probe has become the hottest topic of conversation in Laredo, according
to Odie Arambula, managing editor of the Laredo Morning Times.

"People on both sides of the border are no strangers to allegations of
corruption. But people want to know what's going on and how this could
happen to Joe Rubio," Mr. Arambula said. "He's always been perceived as a
clean-cut guy, a family man who brought some much-needed changes to the DA's
office."

Mr. Rubio is a personable and well-liked political figure. He is credited
with modernizing the DA's office, helping to launch a child advocacy center
and creating the first domestic violence unit in the department's history.

He is no stranger to controversy, though. Last October, Mr. Rubio got into a
fuss with federal agencies when he stopped the long-standing practice of
prosecuting federal drug suspects in cases involving less than 50 kilos of
marijuana. His office had been handling about 750 such cases a year at a
cost of $1 million.

He said the federal government would not pay incarceration costs of suspects
awaiting trial.

In 1997, Mr. Rubio rebutted allegations by a Laredo woman that he and a
state district judge had schemed to shield the judge's son from prosecution
in connection with a 1991 triple ax murder.

Webb County Judge Mecurio Martinez said the federal investigation has not
disrupted day-to-day operation of the district attorney's office but has
smudged the county's image.

"The guilty plea by a former state judge leaves a bad taste for those of us
who are trying to do the best for the community," Mr. Martinez said. "Our
parents schooled us in being honest and living up to our responsibilities.
Now there is a black mark against all elected officials in the county
regardless of any merits in the FBI's investigation."

During a recent conference on county government at South Padre Island, Mr.
Martinez said that the investigation "was something that kept coming up."

Following the raids, a team from the FBI's corruption task force struggled
to copy the mountain of seized documents. After several weeks, a federal
judge ordered the FBI to return the documents in a more timely manner.

Webb County received stacks of jammed cardboard boxes containing mismatched
records, mislabeled and incomplete case files and illegible copies, said
First Assistant District Attorney Monica Notzen.

"For the first two weeks after they were returned, I spent about 75 percent
of my time determining what was missing and how we could re-create the
information," said Ms. Notzen, who has not been named in the investigation.

Seven clerical workers and most of the department's 13 prosecutors and nine
investigators worked every day trying to organize the files, she said.
"About 2,000 of the files were active cases that we needed for court
appearances or our own grand jury investigations," she said.

More disruptive, Mr. Rubio said, was the corrosive effect of the raid on morale.

"We have people here who have worked for the county for many years. They
love the job, and they feel like they're giving public service," he said.
"When the raid hit them, they were shocked, then angry and sad.

"There are 34 people in this office, from me down to the file clerk. And
here the FBI comes in with 50 agents, taking everything they can find," Mr.
Rubio said. "Two weeks before the raid, the FBI called my chief investigator
for assistance in a case they were working. Now we're corrupt. It's all
pretty confusing."

The search of a district attorney's office is, in itself, an indication of
how seriously federal prosecutors are taking the case, said Gerald Lefcourt,
president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.

"This is not a typical kind of investigation. To obtain a search warrant for
a district attorney's office, the local U.S. attorney must first consult and
obtain approval from the Department of Justice at the highest levels," Mr.
Lefcourt said. "The fact the government made that search suggests they have
specific information about criminality."

As news of the investigation spread, Mr. Rubio said, the public rallied in
support of his office. "We've had calls of support, and people have put us
on their prayer lists," he said. "People were disgusted at the actions of
the FBI."

But that reaction hasn't been universal.

"Some of the staff said their kids were teased at the Pizza Hut," Mr. Rubio
said. "There have been cases of taunts and snide remarks and some anonymous
phone calls. It's created emotional turmoil for the workers and their families."

Federal officials note that because the grand jury is still hearing
testimony and examining evidence, no one has been charged.

Mr. DeAtley, the U.S. attorney, points to Mr. Garcia's guilty plea. "I
believe the Garcia plea sends an important message to the community that
this is a serious case, and we're taking our responsibilities in pursuing it
seriously," he said. "That guilty plea shows there were some serious abuses
of the system. It's important to all of us to root that out."

Though the administration of the DA's office is still rocky, its work is
under control, said Ms. Notzen, the first assistant.

"We're pulling together as a team. We're trying cases, and the grand jury
indictments are being handed down," she said. "That which doesn't kill us
makes us hard. When this is all over, we're going to be like rock."

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett