Larry has a long history of misbehavior in El Paso leaving just enough corruption stink, like all of the other corrupters, but not enough to force justice upon him, that is until the US federal government itself got taken for a ride.
While Larry was gallivanting around town lining his pockets, the local judiciary didn’t much worry about his shenanigans. You see, it is par for the course in El Paso politics, that the local judiciary can’t find the corruption surrounding them.
Then Bob Jones decided he wanted some federal monies and Larry lined up at the trough, like many other political hacks, for a little dribble on his corrupt plate.
That’s when the federal government pounced and, well, Larry’s little corrupt empire crumbled.
Before then, Larry was a self-proclaimed pillar of the community, embraced by businessmen and political hacks alike. He lined up Conquistador awards as if they were little hair plugs for his receding hairline.
Self-proclaimed “kid from the barrio”, Larry Medina is currently a licensed insurance agent, peddling insurance out of his Pan American Insurance Agency. According to the Texas Insurance Licensing website, Larry is licensed to sell insurance in property and casualty. His license is active until April 1, 2014.
What I’m not sure of, if that’s an April Fool’s joke or is Larry actually going to still be a licensed insurance agent while he sits jail?
Come to think of it, is Larry even allowed to be licensed in Texas as a felon who plead guilty to public corruption? Who knows, apparently neither does the state.
I’m sure the great State of Texas will eventually get around to asking itself, should we have licensed insurance agents who are felons? We shouldn’t hold our collective breaths though, after all, it’s just Larry Medina.
Even then, if and when Texas decides Larry shouldn’t be licensed anymore, he has his loyal followers ready and willing to keep him in business while he does his time, if he even bothers to show up to jail.
You see, Pan American Insurance Agency also has Octavio Torres in the wings to keep Larry’s insurance gravy train going should Larry be suspended from selling insurance by the state.
Pan American Insurance Agency lists Medina and Octavio Torres as the two licensees for the insurance agency, although Larry founded the agency according to his resume. Also, according to his resume, Larry served in the United States Air Force, after which he attended the local community college.
I’m not sure if the Air Force really wants to claim him as one of their own.
Larry’s public siphoning of public funds, or as Larry would rather have us believe, his “service” to the community includes holding office as a Commissioner of the Civil Service Commission and Commissioner of the upstanding gang over at the El Paso Housing Authority (HACEP). Coincidently, Larry was appointed by another upstanding community political hack, mayor John Cook who in 2005 and then, as if that wasn’t enough pain for the community, again in 2007 appointed Larry to these offices.
But to be fair, Medina didn’t just waltz in; he was elected by the intelligent voters of El Paso as a City Council Representative in 1997. Some argue that the El Paso electorate might have been hoodwinked by Medina.
I’m not real convinced of that, after all, the electorate also elected the likes of Willie Gandara and Dolores Briones.
Larry Medina “served” as a city council representative until 2003. During that time he was instrumental in pushing forth Ray Caballero’s agenda, especially the ill-fated attempt to steal land from senior citizens via the BHI TIFF districts.
But most notably is Medina’s haphazard attempt to “serve” the community.
In 1999, Larry Medina, then a sitting city representative, was detained by El Paso Police officers at a Circle K. The police report of the incident states that one of Larry’s friends attempted to leave the store with liquor. It is curious to note that the local PD answered a call to the Circle K, found Larry Medina, detained him and then let him go without filing charges.
I wonder how many calls were made up the chain of command that night until the right person determined that Larry could leave without being charged. I guess we will never know.
In June of 2001, Larry Medina was on a private plane that crashed in the desert in Chihuahua. Larry, in his infinite wisdom, decided that striking out on his own to find food and shelter in the middle of a desert was better than waiting for rescue along with his companions, who happened to be representatives of an architectural firm doing business with, you guessed it, the city of El Paso.
On the plane was also Carlos Aguilar, a County Commissioner at the time.
Medina told the media that he found a shack in the middle of the desert, put on an apron (well maybe there was no apron, who knows), cleaned up the place because he wanted to leave it better than he found it and waited for the rescue teams to find him.
Oh, I almost forgot, he left a one-hundred dollar bill for the drug dealers, oh sorry, I meant the owners of the shack that conveniently sheltered him from the scorching sun in the Chihuahuan desert.
I can’t help but wonder if Larry’s abandonment of his fellow passengers had more to do with the fact that his companions were doing business with the city and it wasn’t convenient for him to be found with them, or if in fact he actually believed it was better to walk the desert in search of rescue. With Larry, either or both scenarios are plausible because Larry just doesn’t seem to be intelligent enough to think, oh yea the drug dealers run this desert.
But, oh well, the city found no ethical problems with his jaunt through the desert.
In May 2002, an initiative petition was filed to recall Larry Medina. The initiative petition failed.
On July 2002, Larry Medina sues me and others because he alleged that we were unfairly targeting him in recalling him for his actions. Our crime?
We used an old thermal fax machine to send faxes from my office. What a crime, I should be locked up for ever because we used an old fax machine that wasn’t worth even $10 on eBay!
But oh we’ll, the fact that Larry is corrupt doesn’t warrant a recall against him.
In 2003, Larry Medina was defeated by Alexandro Lozano.
On June 2004, Larry drops the lawsuit against me.
On January 4, 2006, Dolores Briones appoints Larry Medina as a County Commissioner. Yes, that’s the same Dolores Briones that recently pleaded guilty to public corruption. Coincidence?
You are kidding? Two upstanding citizens of the community doing good work for El Paso, it has to be coincidence, right?
As if that wasn’t enough, in 2009, Larry’s Pan American Insurance Agency was fined over $36,000 by the federal government after inspectors found various issues with his employee’s paper work. Larry, as usual blamed everyone else but himself for his failure to keep his business in compliance.
On October 29, 2009, Larry Medina published an online manifesto announcing his run for County Judge of El Paso. In it, Medina proclaims; “Just as I rose from the projects to become a successful businessman and elected public official, I want to help the community to rise above its recent history. I plan to lead all of El Paso County, including the city and smaller towns and communities to a successful and corruption-free future”.
Excuse me for a moment while I get over the nausea after reading this gibberish. Not only is Larry, our Conquistador award whore, but he is also saving us from corruption.
Of course what he didn’t add was that he wanted to be king corruptor. He wanted all of the marbles for himself, that’s why he wanted to save us from corruption, he was tired of sharing!
In a March 2, 2010 “Larry Medina for County Judge” election newsletter, descaradamente, (without shame, for you English speakers) Larry writes that his platform includes “preventing corruption in county government”.
How many other current elected officials have proclaimed they want to stamp out public corruption? How many of those are as corrupt as Larry is?
On August 31, 2010, Medina was indicted along with 10 other individuals.
According to the indictment, Larry Medina was involved in a racketeering conspiracy that started in 1998 and ending in 2007. According to the indictment, Larry solicited “a lot of money” on February 10, 2006 from Marc Schwartz for his campaign. On February 13, Marc Schwartz offered to raise $10,000 in campaign contributions for Larry’s campaign. And on February 13, Schwartz offered Larry a campaign contribution to secure his vote.
Finally, on Wednesday, August 1, 2012, Larry Medina pleads guilty through crocodile tears to public corruption before Judge Montalvo.
Today, if he is sentenced I just wonder if he’ll ask the judge if he can take his Conquistador awards with him to his cell.
Maybe he can use them to barter with his cellies, the Barrio Aztecas, at the downtown jail before he’s transferred to his new cozy bed at his new country club, better known as La Tuna.
Oh wait, maybe that’s what the hundred dollars that he left in the shack in the middle of the desert was for, some kind of payoff for future favors in prison? Hmmm, maybe he’s not that dumb after all.
