6:01am | A man who worked as a building projects manager at Long Beach City College from 2008 to 2010 had previously served prison time in Texas after pleading guilty in 2003 to paying bribes to influence major construction contracts in San Antonio.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Louis M. Cruz was released from a Texas prison in 2006 after serving 11 months of his two-year sentence for paying at least $130,000 in bribes.
At LBCC, Cruz worked as a project manager overseeing building projects totaling roughly $616 million.
Cruz worked at LBCC as an employee of Los Angeles-based Cordoba Corp., which oversees construction at the school. He was reportedly relieved of his duties at the Long Beach campus after the company received complaints that he was holding up the completion of construction projects.
The school does not conduct criminal background checks on employees of companies with which it contracts, LBCC officials told the Times.
LBCC President Eloy Oakley reportedly said that there was no indication that Cruz engaged in any illegal activity while working at the campus.