Nogales Mayor Octavio Garcia Von Borstel, having already been indicted on bribery and other corruption charges, isn't too happy with the Arizona Attorney General's Office right now.
Von Borstel's attorneys want the AG's Office to stop releasing information about the case to the media, like an audio recording given to the Nogales International earlier this month.
The audio recording was made by the FBI during its investigation into Von Borstel. The paper published bits of the recording, and the 29-year-old mayor's lawyers want to prevent the AG's Office from releasing any more information about the case to the media.
Von Borstel's attorneys filed a request for an injunction, which would
prevent the AG's Office from releasing anymore information about the
case. A hearing is scheduled for this afternoon.
If you hadn't heard, Von Borstel is in a heap of trouble.
According to the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the FBI began investigating
Garcia Von Borstel five months ago and found he'd been soliciting
businesses in Nogales to hire him as a business consultant while an
elected official with influence over city contracts.
At least one business admitted to the federal agents that it was paying
Garcia Von Borstel to obtain business contracts with the City of
Nogales.
In other words, the AG's Office alleges Garcia Von Borstel was having
businesses pay him as a "business consultant" in exchange for him using
his position as mayor to grant them government contracts.
According to the indictment, the mayor took a 2,000 bribe as an elected official on July 6, 2010 and a 4,000 bribe on July 31, 2010.
Garcia Von Borstel's father, Octavio Garcia Suarez, was involved, too.
Garcia Suarez was an agent for Western Union and was authorized to sell Western Union money orders.
The AG's Office alleges Garcia Suarez was basically just printing out money
orders -- $3.2 million worth -- with no cash to back them up.
The money orders were cashed by Garcia Von Borstel and deposited into a bank account he controlled.
Of the $3.2 million Garcia Von Borstel and his father allegedly stole from Western Union, $565,000 was withdrawn from the bank account for their "personal use."
