SAN JOSE — A Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Management Corporation employee has been charged with extorting a security company contracted by the fairgrounds, officials said.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged 41-year-old Obdulia Banuelos-Esparza of San Jose with bribing the owner of 4 Diamond Security in exchange for her recommendation that the company keep working for the fairgrounds.
Banuelos-Esparza allegedly asked the owner of the company to pay her a monthly percentage of the money it received from its contract with the county fairgrounds. When the owner refused, Banuelos-Esparza accused the company’s security guards of sleeping on the job and threatened to have the contract terminated if the payments weren’t made.
The DA’s office said that starting in the summer of 2020, the owner began paying Banuelos-Esparza monthly in cash at a rate of $1 per guard-hour worked. The sum started at $2,500 and eventually grew to nearly $4,000 a month.
“The fairgrounds are where our community goes for fairs, festivals and fun,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a news release. “Not felonies.”
If convicted, Banuelos-Esparza could face up to four years in county jail. Her attorney and a representative from the county fairgrounds could not be reached for comment.
