Engineering exec in FBI probe kills self

Dannenbaum director’s office was searched by feds

Louis H. Jones Jr., a high-ranking Dannenbaum Engineering executive in South Texas and a subject of an FBI investigation, died by suicide late Monday, one of his family members confirmed.

It’s not clear how or where he died, but the 63-year-old was at a “place he chose.” He was not home in McAllen at the time of his death, the family member said.

Jones was the principal/director of Dannenbaum’s South Texas region, and a frequent campaign contributor to many elected officials in Laredo.

The FBI in April 2017 raided Dannenbaum’s headquarters in Houston as well as its satellite offices in Laredo, McAllen and San Antonio. Search warrants were also executed at city of Laredo and Webb County government buildings. Jones’ attorney said in a deposition related to a lawsuit in Hidalgo County that his client’s “office was subjected to a search warrant.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong and fought it the best he could,” the family member said. “And it was more than he could handle so he took his life.” Now, he’ll be put to rest in his hometown of Freeport, they said.

Dannenbaum Engineering also offered a comment to Laredo Morning Times confirming Jones’ death.

“It is with great sadness that we share with you that yesterday (Monday) we lost a beloved colleague, Louis Jones, Jr.,” Dannenbaum engineer Richard D. Seitz said in the statement. “Louis was admired by all who know him. A wonderful man who will be sorely missed by his family and his many, many friends. We are heartbroken.”

In early October, federal prosecutors handed down their first indictment in connection with the 2017 FBI raids. Webb County Commissioner Jaime Canales and former Laredo City Councilman Johnny Amaya were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery. They pleaded guilty to the charge Thursday in a federal court in Houston. Canales resigned as commissioner hours before the guilty plea was announced.

According to the indictment, an employee of a civil engineering firm was a co-conspirator in the case. The indictment says he is a McAllen resident and served as the lead project manager on most of the engineering firm’s South Texas work.

This co-conspirator gave Canales money in exchange for the commissioner’s official action benefiting the co-conspirator and the civil engineering company, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The indictment notes that on Oct. 26, 2015, the co-conspirator wrote Canales a $5,000 check.

In campaign finance report documents previously requested by Laredo Morning Times, Canales noted receiving a $5,000 check from Jones, marked as received in October 2015. No one else donated $5,000 to Canales in that time frame.

The FBI on Tuesday would not confirm the identity of the co-conspirator.

The engineering firm was also not named in the indictment. The indictment only described it as a civil engineering firm headquartered in Houston with satellite offices in Laredo, McAllen, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. However, the indictment references that the corporation that allegedly benefited from the bribery scheme was awarded a road engineering contract by Webb County Commissioners Court on Sept. 26, 2016.

Agenda minutes and video of that Commissioners Court meeting show that the $300,000 contract was awarded to Dannenbaum. The firm was also the only one to respond to the bid.

When Laredo Morning Times on Friday reached out to Dannenbaum for comment on the indictment, the firm’s spokesman, Bill Miller, said, “We do not comment on other people’s misfortunes and, as such, will have no comment.”

Jones is survived by his wife, Maruca, and his funeral services will be announced at a later date, Seitz said.