Naked City

Arrest Made in Nonprofit Scandal

The latest on the Family Connections scandal: On April 29, Travis County law enforcement officials arrested Marco Aponte (r), husband of former Family Connections Executive Director Louanne Aponte, and charged him with felony money laundering. Louanne Aponte is still missing, accused of stealing about half a million dollars and concealing it by forging audit reports presented to the organization's board. Authorities have seized the Apontes' boat and Circle C house and are looking into allegations that she may have defrauded other nonprofit organizations. Family Connec­tions annually helped about 32,000 Central Texas families with newborns deal with child-rearing issues. It closed down last month after the fraud was discovered, and providers are scrambling to find other ways to continue delivering services. For more, see "Missed Connections," April 16. – Lee Nichols

Controversial Fusion Center Gets Nod

The city's Public Safe­ty Commission voted on May 3 to recommend that council move forward on approving an interlocal agreement creating the Austin Region­al Intel­ligence Center, a so-called "fusion center" that brings law enforcement agencies together in an effort to fight organized criminal activity and, possibly, terrorism. The 6-1 vote drew frustrated protest from meeting watchers who are worried in part about the adequacy of a proposed privacy policy. Commissioner Ramey Ko, also a municipal court judge, was the lone vote against recommending forward progress. Instead, he suggested that the commission encourage council to put off approving the interlocal agreement until several crucial policies and procedures could be fleshed out – including the privacy policy and information-auditing procedures. Ko also had questions about whether individuals would be able to discover if the center is keeping incorrect information about them and, if so, how to try to have that cleared. Coun­cil is slated to consider the agreement at its May 27 meeting. If approved, the agreement will be sent to the other nine agencies already on board with the center, including law enforcement agencies from Williamson, Hays, and Travis counties, and eventually also to several federal entities. – Jordan Smith

Keller: The Dad Did It

The Texas Ethics Commission on April 28 slapped Court of Criminal Appeals presiding Judge Sharon Keller (r) with a $100,000 fine for failing to disclose a host of financial interests on both her 2007 and 2008 personal financial statements. (The commission also noted that because the statute of limitations had passed, it was not able to weigh in on any potential omissions on her documents from 2004 to 2006.) Among the items Keller failed to disclose were eight sources of income (totaling at least $61,500 for 2007 and $121,500 for 2008), as well as interest in real properties (roughly $2.4 million in 2007 and $2.9 million in 2008). Keller also failed to disclose a money market account, more than 20 certificates of deposit, and a "beneficial interest" in one business, among other omissions. In amending her financial statements for each year, Keller failed to explain each of the omissions, reporting only that, regarding the properties and CDs, the mistake was because her father had "acquired and managed, without input from me, all of these properties." Keller has until Aug. 10 to pony up the cash to pay the fine. – J.S.

Quintana: DWI Decision Still Pending

At press time, the disciplinary fate of Austin Police Department Officer Leonardo Quintana, arrested in January for drunken driving, was still up in the air. Quintana faced a disciplinary review board headed by Chief Art Acevedo on Monday, May 3; no decision was reached on whether Quintana would face discipline for his Jan. 12 arrest in Williamson County. Quintana, who was responsible for the shooting death of Nathaniel Sanders II in May 2009, had been deposed on Jan. 11 in connection with a federal civil rights suit filed by Sanders’ family. He was then arrested at 5am after he was in a single-car accident in Leander.– J.S.