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Saturday, September 27, 1997

Henry Cisneros' ex-lover, 2 others plead innocent to federal charges

By MARK BABINECK / Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- The former mistress of U.S. Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros, along with her sister and brother-in-law, pleaded innocent Friday to a rash of federal counts that carry a maximum penalty of 485 years in prison.

Linda Jones, better known by her former married name of Linda Medlar, Patsy Wooten and Allen Wooten appeared in court Friday. The trio told U.S. Magistrate J.Q. Warnick they understood the charges, but they entered their pleas of innocence in documents filed Friday.

Warnick allowed them to remain free on $5,000 personal recognizance bonds.

Ms. Jones, 48; Mrs. Wooten, 55; and her husband, 58, face money laundering and bank fraud charges. Ms. Jones also is charged with lying about evidence, specifically taped phone calls between her and Cisneros.

A grand jury indicted the three on 19 counts of illegally arranging the purchase of a southwest Lubbock home for Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones faces an additional nine charges of obstructing the investigation conducted by special counsel David Barrett, who is looking into allegations that Cisneros lied during an FBI background check.

Nine counts allege that the Wootens acted as "straw purchasers" when they obtained a loan and bought a Lubbock house in early 1993 for Ms. Jones, who was unemployed at the time. The Wootens lied to Plains National Bank of Lubbock by claiming they were going to live in the home, prosecutors said.

By 1995, Ms. Jones had become unable to keep up with mortgage payments after Cisneros and others stopped providing money, the indictment says. Ms. Jones subsequently rented out and sold the house at a profit, then moved in with her mother.

Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the Cisneros probe in 1995, based on allegations he lied about payments he made to Ms. Jones following their breakup.

The 2-1/2-year investigation initially concentrated on Cisneros. However, prosecutors said earlier this month that the investigation shifted to Ms. Jones when she began failing to live up to her end of a November 1995 agreement shielding her from prosecution.

Ms. Jones has said she and Cisneros, then mayor of San Antonio, began their affair in March 1987, three months after she became a fund-raiser for him. Cisneros acknowledged the relationship in 1988, then reconciled with his wife.

Cisneros began making monthly $4,000 payments to Ms. Jones in 1990, she said. The payments continued after she divorced her husband and moved back to Lubbock, her hometown.

President Clinton named Cisneros as head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1993. Cisneros acknowledged the payments during a routine FBI background check and then ended them.

Ms. Jones filed a breach of contract suit over the suspended payments, but the two settled out of court in May 1995.

Cisneros resigned last November to run the Univision television network. Ms. Jones had been working at a $24,000-a-year job with the Lubbock State School, although Friday she told Warnick she was unemployed.

U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings set a Nov. 3 trial date. He also issued a gag order on all involved.