Clip 13: DISD's top cop, witness are tied / Exclusive: Police chief defends partnership with figure in FBI case
We tied the Dallas Schools police chief to the scandal.
By PETE SLOVER and KENT FISCHER .
Dallas school Police Chief Manny Vasquez runs a business with a key witness in the FBI's corruption probe of the district. And one of their company's partners is a district vendor with $100,000 in contracts awarded by the chief.
Chief Vasquez told his bosses about the security consulting company Thursday, they said, after The Dallas Morning News inquired. The chief, at his bosses' direction, then canceled his company's partnership with the vendor.
The revelations come as DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa pushes to clean up questionable business practices that brought the FBI onto his turf.
"The issue of perception is a concern to us," Dr. Hinojosa said of Chief Vasquez's situation. "He should have communicated this to us."
Chief Vasquez's partner, Blair M. Thomas, is a former sales representative for Micro System Enterprises, the Houston company under investigation for its relationship with ousted DISD technology chief Ruben Bohuchot.
Mr. Thomas built Micro System's business with DISD starting in about 2000. According to federal authorities, the FBI has interviewed him - and a grand jury has subpoenaed documents - about his entertainment of Mr. Bohuchot, including meals and out-of-town golf trips.
Chief Vasquez said he and Mr. Thomas met when the computer sales rep was calling on DISD. He described their relationship since as a "professional friendship," with contact limited to a few rounds of golf and parties per year.
Even as he disclosed his business dealings last week, Chief Vasquez never told his bosses that he joined Mr. Bohuchot and Mr. Thomas to play as a team in out-of-town golf tournaments in San Antonio in 2001 and 2002. They won once.
Chief Vasquez said he paid his own way, except his $150 entry fee, which he said he assumed was covered by Mr. Thomas or another district vendor.
The News reported in July that Micro System had given Mr. Bohuchot a year's worth of free, frequent use of a 59-foot yacht valued at $789,000. Mr. Bohuchot was suspended, and the FBI began its investigation. He recently agreed to leave the district.
Mr. Thomas was not handling the DISD account by the time of the boat use and left Micro System early this year. He did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.
A new company
Chief Vasquez said that, before the FBI probe began in August, he was approached by two men, Mr. Thomas' stepfather and a neighbor. They wanted him to join them as investors in a new company, he said.
State records show that on Sept. 19, six weeks into the FBI investigation, the three men and Mr. Thomas formed Security Innovations Inc., a firm offering various security services to government and private clients.
According to Chief Vasquez and the company Web site, he is investor and chief executive, while Mr. Thomas is an employee and chief operating officer.
As the company formed, Mr. Thomas was negotiating an agreement to help market Trace Detection Services, a Louisiana firm that electronically scans schools for drugs and explosives.
Simultaneously, the chief was doing business with Trace Detection on behalf of the district. In September or October, the chief said, he approved a $20,000 contract with the firm to scan 32 schools.
He said he hired the company in the 2003-04 school year to scan five schools for $32,000, money obtained under a federal grant. Last school year, he paid the firm $48,000 in district money to test 46 schools, he said. In DISD, administrators can approve deals up to $50,000 without board approval.
Chief Vasquez said he has made money from neither his new company nor the partnership with Trace Detection. Gary Pfeltz, president of Trace Detection, backed that up. He said Chief Vasquez's promotion of his product was limited to escorting Mr. Pfeltz on a sales trip to an East Texas school district. The chief's new company had posted the Trace Detection logo on its Web site (www.secinnov.com) as a "partner."
The logo was removed Friday. Both Security Innovation and Trace Detection (www.tracedetec tionservices.com) have posted on their Web sites the same assortment of news clips and videos about the drug scanning at DISD.
Dr. Hinojosa, the superintendent, said the case underscores the need for a proposed policy that would require district officials to choose between outside business interests and district jobs.
"The policy will force the hand of the individual," he said.
Chief sees no conflict
Chief Vasquez said his business relationship with Mr. Thomas did not conflict with his role as district liaison to outside law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. He said he has made sure information from the DISD investigation didn't filter back to Mr. Thomas.
"I have taken very careful steps," he said. "I gave him [Mr. Thomas] strict rules, that the MSE investigation was not to be discussed between us."
Dr. Hinojosa also expressed concern about whether Chief Vasquez adequately disclosed his dealings to the FBI.
Although Chief Vasquez has not removed himself as liaison to the FBI on the case, he said he never discussed the case with the FBI or debriefed his detectives on their work.
Chief Vasquez said he asked a subordinate to inform the FBI about his relationship with Mr. Thomas at the start of the investigation.
Deputy Chief Gary Hodges said he informed the agent in charge of the Dallas FBI office of the "golf situation" during an initial meeting on the case.
About a week later, Chief Hodges said, he told the agent leading the DISD probe that his boss was likely to start a business with Mr. Thomas. Chief Hodges said he told the agent that Chief Vasquez wanted to be completely isolated from the case and did not feel comfortable being the district liaison.
But federal authorities said the agents working the case never were told by DISD police about Chief Vasquez's business dealings, his golf, or his concerns and desire to distance himself from the case.
Chief Vasquez came to DISD in January 2000 as a special assistant to Superintendent Bill Rojas. Chief Vasquez previously served 26 years with the Dallas Police Department and at one point was the department's highest-ranking Hispanic.
In fall 2003, he oversaw the transformation of the DISD security division into a full-fledged police agency. Chief Vasquez, whose contract expires next March, will make $131,168 this year, according to district records.
