Barnhart suspended
Willacy county judge indicted
RAYMONDVILLE — Willacy County Judge Eliseo Barnhart was suspended Tuesday after a grand jury indicted him on an aggravated perjury charge.
Indictments unsealed late Monday afternoon also charge former Raymondville school board President Gloria Reyes Garcia, her niece Andrea Sias Espinosa and husband Rene Espinosa.
The three co-defendants were charged with trying to force Barnhart to resign from a teaching job.
The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct on Monday suspended Barnhart with pay as a result of an indictment handed down Sept. 13, Seana Willing, the agency’s executive director, said.
County commissioners will appoint a temporary replacement for Barnhart, Willing said.
Barnhart, who was elected in November, has more than three years remaining in his term.
If Barnhart is cleared of the charge, he may return to office, Willing said, but a conviction would force Barnhart out of office.
State District Judge Manuel Bañales, the Fifth Judicial District’s administrative judge, ordered the five indictments unsealed on Monday and set Barnhart’s bond at $5,000.
Bañales set bond on Reyes Garcia and Sias Espinosa at $15,000, while Rene Espinosa’s bond was set at $5,000.
Bañales is scheduled to arraign Barnhart, Reyes Garcia, Andrea Espinosa and Rene Espinosa at 10 a.m. Friday in the Willacy County courthouse.
An indictment charges Barnhart with aggravated perjury, a third-degree felony.
The perjury charge is based on a written statement to a Texas Ranger investigating allegations that Barnhart exposed himself to Sias Espinoza. According to the Texas Ranger’s report, Barnhart at first denied that he was sexually aroused. He later changed his statement and admitted that he was aroused at the time, according to a Texas Ranger report.
A February 2006 complaint filed by Sias Espinosa accused Barnhart of exposing himself to her in his office. She swore that Barnhart was sexually aroused when he touched her breasts.
An indictment charges Sias Espinosa with aggravated perjury, charging she perjured herself when she told three witnesses “what (Barnhart) did to her.”
Another indictment charges Reyes Garcia, Sias Espinosa and Espinosa with criminal conspiracy to commit theft, a state jail felony. The three tried to force Barnhart to resign as a teacher and coach with the Raymondville school district, according to the indictment.
Reyes Garcia is charged in another indictment with aggravated perjury, accused of swearing that she had not demanded money from Barnhart, according to the indictment.
Both Reyes Garcia and Sias Espinosa are charged with attempted theft — a state jail felony — accused of attempting to take Barnhart’s “future salary,” in another indictment.
Reyes Garcia said Tuesday that she, her niece and nephew were “1,000 percent innocent.”
She said the indictments result from her demand that Barnhart, then a coach and physical education teacher at Pittman Elementary School, “stay away from children.”
“I went to the school and told Barnhart that all Andrea wanted was for him to stay away from children,” Reyes Garcia said.
Sias Espinosa said she was “innocent,” in response to the unsealed indictment.
“I don’t care if I go to jail if he’s there,” Sias Espinosa said, referring to Barnhart.
Barnhart did not respond to a message requesting comment.
It’s the second time Reyes Garcia, Sias Espinosa and Espinosa have been indicted.
Last October, the three co-defendants were indicted on a charge of trying to extort $35,000 from Barnhart.
In June, Bañales dismissed the charges.
View the indictments:
