Guaynabo mayor charged with receiving $5,000 bribes

On December 9, 2021, Metro Puerto Rico reported that a federal grand jury charged Guaynabo mayor Ángel Pérez Otero — then president of the Federation of Mayors — with three counts: conspiracy, bribery and illegal commissions; bribery involving federal programs; and extortion by a public official. Federal authorities arrested him that morning at his home. An indictment is an allegation: charges are not a conviction.

According to the indictment, the alleged acts occurred at least between late 2019 and August 19, 2021. The cited statutory maximum penalties total up to 35 years (five, ten and twenty, respectively) if there were convictions on all counts; that is a potential ceiling, not a sentence.

The document does not name the alleged briber: it says “Individual A” met secretly with Pérez Otero to pay him cash and illegal commissions in exchange for securing municipal contracts for “Company A,” a construction firm. In return, the mayor allegedly advised, pressured and directed municipal officials to award those contracts in Guaynabo. Prosecutors allege $5,000 payments “regularly” — nearly monthly — from late 2019 through May 2021, with a pause after a representative’s indictment in August 2020; then three more $5,000 payments between May and August 2021.

The $50,000 bond motion mentions alleged images of envelope deliveries, including one from August 21, 2019. The government says it has consensually recorded calls, video of payments, texts, cameras, contracts, invoices, witnesses and municipal checks. Pérez Otero had not entered a plea, unlike former Cataño mayor Félix “Cano” Delgado, who pleaded guilty a week earlier in similar schemes.

Metro also noted that Island Builders — linked in the Cataño scheme — had an $871,751.60 contract with Guaynabo (June 2020–June 2022). Gabriel Hernández (Camuy), Federation vice president, called for calm and an extraordinary meeting to choose new leadership. Arrest and indictment do not equal proven theft or a conviction.