Ex-Bexar County sheriff enters no contest plea

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Former Bexar County Sheriff Ralph Lopez pleaded no contest Tuesday to three misdemeanor charges related to a Costa Rican trip he took with a company that was awarded a lucrative contract at the jail.

Lopez, who resigned last week, pleaded no contest to charges of accepting a gift by a public servant, failure to report a gift and tampering with a government record. He also agreed to pay a $10,000 fine.

As part of the plea deal, Lopez and his wife are immune from future prosecution by Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, said Mike McCrum, Lopez's lawyer.

"As far as the other charges, it ends today for them," McCrum said in a story for Tuesday's online edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

Also Tuesday, the Bexar County commissioners accepted Lopez's resignation, four days after Lopez submitted a resignation letter.

Lopez was Bexar County's sheriff for 16 years and was running for re-election.

He took the Costa Rica trip in August 2005, the same year that Louisiana-based Premier Management Enterprises received contracts for the jail commissary and another annex generating $2 million in gross annual sales. The contracts were controlled by a benevolence fund created by Lopez, Reed said.

Lopez's attorney has said the sheriff did take the trip, but for legitimate business reasons.