9th Mayor in Puerto Rico This Year Accused of Corruption

John McCarthyPosted oninAt VIFreep, Breaking News, Caribbean News, Crime News, National News, Police News, Puerto Rico News, U.S. Department of Justice

A former Puerto Rico mayor who vanished earlier this year while still in his position has pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case

SAN JUAN — A former Puerto Rico mayor who vanished earlier this year while still in his position appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said José Luis Cruz is accused of participating in a bribery conspiracy and receiving $10,000 in exchange for the award of municipal asphalt, paving and trash removal contracts.

He could face up to five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

Cruz resigned late last week after serving as mayor of the northern town of Trujillo Alto for more than a decade.

He is the ninth Puerto Rican mayor to face federal corruption charges in recent months.

John McCarthy

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.