Ex-Los Banos mayor is a wanted ‘fugitive,’ DA’s Office says

Tommy Jones, a former Los Banos mayor charged with bribing public officials in his capacity as a member of the city’s school board, now is considered a fugitive, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Jones, 68, was charged Monday with two counts of bribery in connection with allegedly paying off another member of the Los Banos Unified School District board to secure a vote on a controversial expansion project at Mercey Springs Elementary. Jones spoke with investigators Monday, but declined to meet with them in person, District Attorney Larry Morse II said.

The Sun-Star reached Jones by telephone Tuesday morning. He said he and his attorney, Kevin Little, have a meeting scheduled Wednesday afternoon with investigators at the Merced County District Attorney’s Office, where he presumably would surrender to authorities.

That meeting, however, was news to the District Attorney’s Office.

“Nobody knows anything about that meeting,” lead investigator Anna Hazel told the Sun-Star. “We all are of the same opinion that he’s a fugitive.”

Jones referred questions to his attorney. Little did not respond to a phone message left for him Tuesday.

“I don’t know why they don’t know about it,” Jones said. “That’s what my attorney told me and that’s all I know.”

Hazel said investigators do not know Jones’ whereabouts.

“If we knew where he was, we’d be there right now,” Hazel said.

Jones’ status as a fugitive comes a day after his alleged co-conspirator, construction manager Greg Opinski, was arrested on bribery charges in the same case.

Opinski has not responded to telephone messages seeking comment.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, Opinski and Jones paid trustee Dominic Falasco to vote on July 26 in favor of awarding the $541,000 construction contract to Opinski’s company. Falasco, however, was cooperating with investigators and recorded “more than 10” conversations over about 10 months among himself, Jones and Opinski.

Prosecutors on Monday said Opinski has been charged with four counts of bribery of a public official and one count of aiding and abetting a conflict of interest with a public official. If convicted, Opinski faces a maximum of seven years in state prison. Jones was charged with two counts of bribery and faces up to five years in prison, if convicted.

Falasco’s vote part of probe

Speaking with the Sun-Star on Tuesday, Falasco said he was relieved the “cloak and dagger” portion of the case has ended.

“It’s been very stressful. My family didn’t have any idea what was going on and, of course, I couldn’t talk about it with anybody,” Falasco said. “It’s a very uncomfortable situation that I wish I hadn’t been put into, but I knew I had a duty to do the right thing and protect the kids of Los Banos.”

Morse has credited Falasco with coming forward and exposing the alleged bribery.

“We absolutely could not have uncovered these allegations of corruption without him and the people of Los Banos owe Mr. Falasco a genuine debt of gratitude,” Morse said Monday.

Falasco said he was first approached by Jones late last year and felt “outraged when I realized what was going on.”

“I was pretty insulted that they’d think I was up for sale,” Falasco said. “And I was saddened, too, because I’d always thought of Tommy Jones as a friend and I was outraged he’d think I would do that, outraged that he’d put me in that position.”

Falasco declined to discuss specific details of the case, including how much money he was offered allegedly and exactly what was said during the conversations he recorded. He said revealing those details at this point could compromise the investigation.

The controversial vote to award the Mercey Springs project came July 26 during a special meeting of the Los Banos school board. Falasco was part of the board majority that voted 4-3 to give the contract to Opinski’s company. The board’s decision went against the recommendation from the board facilities committee to hire Bush Construction.

His vote was part of his cooperation with the investigation, prosecutors have said.

Falasco said voting for Opinski that night made him physically ill.

“After I left the meeting that night, I was driving home and had to pull over to throw up,” Falasco said Tuesday. “I was so disgusted with what I had to do.”

He said his frustration over voting against his conscience was compounded by the fact that he couldn’t defend himself to people critical of his public vote, critics with whom he said he agreed, but couldn’t say so.

“I’m glad the cloak and dagger part of this thing is finally over,” Falasco said. “I do think the work on Mercey Springs should stop immediately and the whole issue should be revisited.”

The current status of the expansion project, which would add 15 classrooms to the elementary school on Mercey Springs Road, remained unclear Tuesday. School officials on Monday said they were researching legal options before determining how to proceed. At least two other board members, John Mueller and Dennis Areias, who both opposed the Opinski contract, have said expansion work should stop while the board revisits the issue.

Drug arrest case pending

About six months after Falasco began secretly recording conversations for the district attorney, the 49-year-old veteran criminal defense attorney was arrested in Merced on a drug-possession charge.

Falasco on Tuesday acknowledged concern that his arrest could compromise the alleged bribery case.

“This had already been going on for months and I didn’t want it to affect this,” Falasco said. “It was an added stressor, though, that’s for sure.”

Morse also acknowledged concern over Falasco’s arrest at the time.

“It obviously wasn’t good news on a number of levels. I was concerned for Dominic as a friend and it did complicate an already complicated investigation,” Morse said Tuesday. “Dominic’s decision to come forward with information predates this episode by half a year.”

In a previous interview with the Sun-Star, Falasco denied wrongdoing in connection with his April 3 arrest. He was charged with misdemeanor counts of methamphetamine possession and possession of paraphernalia. Falasco has pleaded not guilty.

Merced police said Falasco was a passenger in a pickup that was stopped around 1 a.m. near Yosemite Avenue and M Street. Officers said Falasco admitted possessing the alleged methamphetamine, but Falasco maintains that is not true.

He said he was helping a friend, a 27-year-old Dos Palos woman who was driving his truck that night, to get out of a potentially dangerous situation at her home. He said he took the woman’s drugs with the intention of destroying them, but was stopped by police before he could get rid of them.

Morse asked the Mariposa County District Attorney’s Office to handle prosecution of the case.

On Tuesday, Thomas Cooke, the Mariposa County district attorney, said the drug case is pending. Cooke said he didn’t believe Falasco’s cooperation in the school board case would have any impact on the drug case.

“I wouldn’t think so. I wouldn’t want to comment any further on it right now, but, at this point, I can see no reason for anything other than to proceed,” Cooke said in a telephone interview.

Cooke noted that Falasco would be eligible for drug diversion, a program for nonviolent first-time offenders to take narcotics treatment classes in lieu of jail time. Once the program is completed successfully, Cooke said, the case against a defendant is dismissed.

Whether Falasco would consider taking that option remains unclear and he continues to deny any wrongdoing.

“I’ve taken some criticism for that, but I’d do it the same again,” Falasco said. “People can say what they want, but if it had been their son or daughter, they’d have wanted them to get the help they needed, too.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2016 at 12:40 PM.