Count 1

The first count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud states that Flores and others not named devised a scheme to defraud the citizens of El Paso County to fraudulently obtain money and property.

According to the federal information document containing the charges against Flores, she admits she received payments disguised as campaign contributions in exchange for her vote to extend the county's health-care benefits contract.

In February 2006, the Commissioners Court voted unanimously to extend its health benefits contract with Access HealthSource and its subsidiary, Access Administrators, for two years, even though that contract was not up for reconsideration until late that year.

Access' president and chief executive officer, Frank Apodaca, is a target of the FBI's public corruption investigation. The FBI has conducted searches of Apodaca's Access offices and his home.

Apodaca, whose assets along with two cars and a motorcycle have been seized by the FBI, was recently placed on paid administrative leave by Access' parent company, the publicly traded Access Plans USA.

Access HealthSource, a for-profit corporation, was owned by the nonprofit National Center for Employment of the Disabled until it was sold to Precis Inc. in 2004.

Count 2

The second count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud states that between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2006 -- Flores' term of office -- she received cash bribes in exchange for her vote on "part of the underwriting contract for a bond initiative for Thomason General Hospital, an underwriting contract for bond issues at the County of El Paso, and to award financial advisory contracts at the court of El Paso and for the Thomason bond initiative."

Thomason spokeswoman Margaret Althoff-Olivas said the hospital had no role in the conspiracy

"I can say that all of the actions taken by the Hospital District's Board concerning Thomason's bond initiative were done in open session in committee meetings, and subsequently, by the board-as-a-whole, in accordance with the law and were conducted fairly and legally," she said in a written statement. "If others were engaged in other activities with individual members of the court, the district was unaware of that."

Haggerty said he did not know what specifically Flores' plea referred to.

"If it was a Thomason Hospital bond issue, that was just before she left office. It's the only one I can remember of any significance in forever."

Haggerty said he was not persuaded to support the bond when it was first brought to the court. Commissioners approved $120 million in tax and revenue bonds for the hospital last November.

"I was the only one who asked any questions," he said.

In April, the Commissioners Court terminated its bond underwriting contract with First Southwest Co. In Ketner's "information," count four alleges that Ketner conspired with others, including Commissioners Miguel Terán and Luis Sariñana, to strip a bond underwriting contract from First Southwest Co., a company that the city and county have used in bond matters for years, and to award it to another company.

Count 3

The third count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud states that Flores was paid $10,000 in exchange for a favorable vote on a contract for the $20 million El Paso County Parking Garage Annex, and to advocate change orders to the contract. The contract was awarded in May 2004.

"I remember she had an opinion on that, real strong," Haggerty said.

The contract was awarded to C.F. Jordan, County Purchasing Agent Piti Vasquez said.

"I thought it was wrong. I remember voting against that too," Haggerty said.

Vasquez said the bid process on that project was unusual.

"Betti was supposedly the leader of the pack," he said. "She was really involved in that one. They threw me out and I was not to have anything to do with it. When they would want to do things, they would get me out of the loop."

C.F. Jordan President Paco Jordan could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Count 4

The fourth count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud states that Flores obtained money and property by false pretenses in her misdemeanor case in exchange for her vote to settle a lawsuit.

The description in this information is minimal, but Flores was alleged in Ketner's information to have exchanged her vote on a lawsuit regarding sheriff's overtime pay for getting legal representation for 18 counts of filing untimely or incomplete campaign finance reports. The Ketner document continued to state that lawyer Martie Jobe was in on the conspiracy as the lawyer for the sheriff's association, and sought Flores' vote in the settlement agreement, which called for the county to pay officers $635,000 to get the lawsuit dismissed. Ketner would represent Flores in exchange for the vote.

Jobe filed a lawsuit against Ketner last month for defamation and civil conspiracy for his allegations in this matter.

Count 5

In the fifth count, Flores is charged with taking money and other benefits in exchange for her vote to settle a lawsuit against El Paso County over a tract of land owned by the county and to sell the land.

In 2003, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in the county's favor in a decade-long lawsuit filed by Catalina Development and its founder, Greg Collins, the brother-in-law of state Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso.

The Commissioners Court had voted to sell the land to Collins for $2.5 million in the early 1990s, but reversed its decision, prompting Collins to sue.

Despite the Supreme Court decision, the lawsuit was still active later in 2003 when the Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to sell 302 acres of the parcel for at least $3 million to a group representing Collins' interests.

That group included lawyer David Escobar and other developers, including Tropicana Homes, who were threatening to continue the lawsuit against the county.

El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez openly challenged the sale of the land without bids, saying it would violate state law. He also refused to represent the county further in the matter.

"I am not giving them any further advice on this case," Rodríguez told commissioners in December 2003.

But at a special meeting unattended by the public later that month, the Commissioners Court voted on a motion by Flores and seconded by Haggerty to sell the 304 acres for $3.04 million to Catalina Development.

When questions about the action arose the following month, former County Judge Luther Jones, currently an alleged target in the FBI investigation, warned the Commissioners Court that the clients he and Escobar represented would raise the stakes in a new legal action over the property if the Dec. 22 action did not stand.

Count 6

The sixth count states that Flores and other uncharged co-conspirators schemed to make payments to Flores in the form of campaign contributions in exchange for her vote on a contract for the digitization of court records for the district clerk's office.

The bid was never awarded.

"The FBI is investigating that one," Vasquez said.

He said District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez wanted an imaging system that would cost about $53 million. Sanchez is also part of the Ketner document in which Ketner alleges that the case distribution system was compromised. Sanchez has filed a criminal complaint against Ketner.

Sanchez said he did not have anything to do with the charges to which Flores pleaded guilty.

"My attorney said it doesn't involve me personally or the office other than that is being mentioned in this contract," Sanchez said.

Haggerty said the charges against Flores have harmed the Commissioners Court greatly, slowing down its normal business.

"I don't know what to think," he said. "This is the wildest thing in all my years of being in politics."

He said many in the community now view the entire court as being on the take.

"We're all being painted with the same brush at Commissioners Court," Haggerty said. "I look down that row of people thinking I'm one of them. I find them to be so arrogant and difficult and hard to deal with, but wait a minute, I'm just as goofy as they are. Now I can say I'm not."

He said he enjoyed Flores when she was on the court.

"Betti is Betti. She was kind of da da da da da da da," Haggerty said. "She was a sweet, cheery, jubilant gal, fluttering around. I can't believe she could have plotted and planned. It's just sad."