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Julia Keleher, who had pleaded blameworthy to conspiracy to perpetrate fraud, said she was “inept” successful however she handled immoderate large argumentation changes successful a troubled system.
Dec. 17, 2021, 7:07 p.m. ET
Two years ago, national agents arrested Puerto Rico’s erstwhile acquisition secretary, Julia Keleher, arsenic portion of a sprawling corruption probe whose accusations helped uncork nationalist dissatisfaction with the island’s leaders and contributed to the furious ouster of a young and ambitious governor.
The accusations against Ms. Keleher and different apical authoritative acceptable disconnected the precise archetypal protests successful the summertime of 2019 against erstwhile Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló, prompting him to unreserved location from a household abrogation successful France to what would crook retired to beryllium his final frenzied weeks successful office.
On Friday, a national justice successful Puerto Rico sentenced Ms. Keleher to service six months successful situation and 12 months of location apprehension and wage a $21,000 fine. She had pleaded blameworthy successful June to 2 felony counts involving conspiracies to perpetrate fraud.
Ms. Keleher’s sentencing came amid a caller spate of corruption arrests — 3 mayors successful 3 weeks — that has dominated headlines successful Puerto Rico. One erstwhile mayor, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to perpetrate bribery and person kickbacks, was accused this period of awarding contracts worthy astir $10 cardinal to an asphalt institution that paid him disconnected with currency and luxury wristwatches.
Ms. Keleher, who resigned successful April 2019, pleaded blameworthy to a complaint that she arranged for payments to a politically connected advisor nether a national declaration that did not let for subcontractors.
She besides pleaded blameworthy to signing a missive endorsing the transportation of 1,034 quadrate feet of nationalist schoolhouse onshore to a existent property developer successful the Santurce vicinity of San Juan, the capital. In return, the developer rented her an flat successful an adjacent gathering named Ciudadela from June to December of 2018 for $1. She was aboriginal fixed a $12,000 inducement bonus, funded by the developer, that helped her bargain the two-bedroom portion for $297,500.
“To the radical of Puerto Rico, I would similar to apologize for the symptom and heartache immoderate of the actions that I took portion serving arsenic caput person caused,” Ms. Keleher, 47, said during a video proceeding earlier Judge Pedro A. Delgado Hernández of the United States District Court successful Puerto Rico. It was her archetypal clip speaking astir the lawsuit due to the fact that the tribunal had antecedently placed her and others progressive nether a gag order.
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Ms. Keleher’s plea statement importantly narrowed the allegations against her, which astatine 1 constituent had included charges of individuality theft and bribery. Initial charges that she steered a $13 cardinal national declaration to a politically connected advisor were dropped.
In a consequent telephone interview, Ms. Keleher acknowledged making “mistakes” — immoderate that led to transgression charges and others that made galore Puerto Ricans despise her — but stressed that she had not stolen wealth oregon steered it distant from students oregon teachers.
Instead, she insisted that the galore changes she tried to marque successful the island’s acquisition strategy during her abbreviated tenure threatened almighty governmental interests.
“I wasn’t communicating well, and I, culturally, was inept,” she said. “I didn’t admit the civilization oregon the discourse oregon what I represented.” Her “let’s complaint ahead” approach, she said, struck Puerto Ricans arsenic an outsider who had travel to archer them what to bash and rob them of their ain agency.
In the much than 2 years since her arrest, Ms. Keleher has go an emblem of the corruption, some existent and perceived, that has plagued the territory for decades. A erstwhile acquisition secretary, Víctor Fajardo, served a decennary successful national situation aft siphoning much than $4 cardinal successful national funds to himself and his governmental party.
Her lawsuit offered a glimpse into the interior workings of a authorities that has struggled done financial bankruptcy and hurricane recovery. Consultants person played an outsize relation due to the fact that Puerto Rico lacks a civilian work with the capableness to grip administrative matters in-house — successful portion due to the fact that specified a ample proportionality of nationalist employees are governmental appointees alternatively than vocation workers with organization expertise.
Federal information suggest that corruption is not much communal successful Puerto Rico than it is elsewhere. An analysis by the United States Sentencing Commission recovered that, successful 2020, astir 0.2 percent of national offenders successful Puerto Rico were progressive successful bribery and corruption crimes, compared with 0.4 percent astatine the nationalist level.
But galore Puerto Ricans distrust the authorities that sank them successful indebtedness and failed to adequately respond aft Hurricane Maria successful 2017.
Even earlier her arrest, Ms. Keleher, who is from Philadelphia, was profoundly unpopular for closing hundreds of nationalist schools due to the fact that of debased enrollment. She upset teachers’ unions for championing an acquisition betterment measure that authorized charter schools and stoked fears astir the privatization of nationalist education. She pushed to decentralize the Education Department, Puerto Rico’s largest authorities agency, to make regions that operated much similar section schoolhouse districts, eroding the powerfulness of immoderate of the department’s administrators.
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The schoolhouse closures came aft the fiscal committee that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances required large cutbacks, but critics said Ms. Keleher ignored pleas from students and parents successful distant towns to support schools unfastened alternatively than unit them to marque agelong commutes without immoderate nationalist transit available.
“The monolithic schoolhouse closures that she led are thing for which she volition ne'er service 1 time successful jail,” Mercedes Martínez Padilla, the caput of a teachers’ union, said connected Friday. “That was a transgression against the children of our country.”
Most shuttered schools, she noted, person go nationalist nuisances attracting cause users, chaotic horses and stateless people.
In the interview, Ms. Keleher said she felt the radiating choler against her erstwhile she made her archetypal nationalist quality successful national tribunal successful San Juan aft her arrest. A assemblage of protesters swarmed the courthouse.
Their ire, she said, seemed motivated some by the corruption charges and by the choler implicit the schoolhouse closures. Making matters worse was her presumption arsenic a non-Puerto Rican who appeared to beryllium dismissing section communities and their past successful a territory wherever galore radical person agelong felt oppressed by colonialism.
But she maintained that, portion galore Puerto Ricans whitethorn dislike her, the large changes she tried to undertake were indispensable and stay unfinished.
The schoolhouse strategy has aging infrastructure, and galore mediocre and peculiar acquisition students are astatine hazard of dropping out. Early successful the coronavirus pandemic, galore students did not person capable net oregon machine entree for distant schooling. Before that, a flurry of earthquakes successful the southwestern portion of the land exposed superior operation flaws that forced immoderate schoolhouse buildings to close.
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Ms. Keleher said that schools had aged textbooks. The organisation of resources was uneven. Teachers lacked nonrecreational training. Without a centralized payroll and attendance system, it was intolerable to clasp radical accountable for showing up to enactment — a occupation exacerbated by the galore governmental appointees rotating successful and retired of the section aft each election.
“Every 4 years you person an astir wholly caller agency,” said Laura Jimenez, an acquisition argumentation adept astatine the Center for American Progress, who overlapped with Ms. Keleher astatine the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama administration. Ms. Jimenez aboriginal worked arsenic a advisor for the Puerto Rico Education Department. “That’s nary mode to tally immoderate organization, fto unsocial a authorities organization.”
Last year, an adjunct to Ms. Keleher and the assistant’s sister pleaded blameworthy to conspiracy to perpetrate fraud. They person yet to beryllium sentenced, suggesting imaginable practice with prosecutors. A advisor progressive successful the transaction with the schoolhouse onshore and flat has pleaded not blameworthy and is scheduled for proceedings successful February.
Four different radical accused of taking portion successful a fraud strategy involving $15.5 cardinal successful national backing — including Ángela Ávila Marrero, the erstwhile enforcement manager of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration — person pleaded not blameworthy and are awaiting trial.
The lawsuit forced Ms. Keleher to merchantability her Washington location and determination successful with her parents extracurricular Philadelphia, wherever she logged into her sentencing hearing. She has been making a surviving by teaching English online — including, she said, to resettled Afghan refugees.
She chose not to instrumentality to San Juan to beryllium sentenced successful person.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
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