The prosecution rested this week after more than a month of testimony in the case against officials from the OMNI Consortium based in Houston -- Noel Cedro Tolentino; his wife, Angelica Tolentino; and his mother, Florita Tolentino. The three were indicted on about 40 counts including conspiracy to smuggle aliens, visa fraud and money laundering.

Officials from several El Paso school districts who hired some Filipino teachers are key players in the trial.

The jury is off for spring break and is scheduled to return March 19 to hear the defense's case.

The government's case against the Tolentinos includes a series of alleged junkets to the Philippines, all-expenses-paid trips during which school administrators were expected to offer Filipino candidates teaching jobs in Texas.

Last week, Ron Ederer, the lawyer for Noel Tolentino, took offense with the government's assertion that the trips were bribes.

"It's like saying I'm going to give you a free trip to Juárez, or worse. To consider this a bribe is a real stretch," he said. "It's almost embarrassing to be arguing these things."

Last year, Mario Aguilar, former superintendent of the Socorro Independent School District, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of failing to report gifts, including a trip to China within the trip to the Philippines, to a public official and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Aguilar's wife, Vista Del Sol Elementary School Principal Magdalena Aguilar, was also sentenced to one year of probation for receiving a gift.

Raye Lokey, former Ysleta Independent School District associate superintendent for human resources, was sentenced to six months of probation for aiding illegal entry.

The defense contends the trips to the Philippines were working trips.

But prosecutor Bill Lewis said a quid pro quo was involved.

SISD officials who went on the trip testified that there was an understanding that each had to sign 10 letters of intent to hire during the trip. Lewis said the letters were used by OMNI to file I-129 petitions for H-1B work visas in the United States.

But school districts then scaled down their request for teachers. For example, the Brownsville Independent School originally wanted to hire 55 teachers but later said it needed only 19. The government said that instead of canceling the H-1B application for the unwanted 36 teachers, Tolentino continued the process.

"The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines issued visas for jobs that did not exist. É That's fraud," Lewis said.

The teachers did not know they would end up coming to the United States illegally, Lewis said.

By then they had taken loans to pay the fees OMNI was charging them, about $10,000 a person, according to the indictment.

"Had they known, they would have not come into the United States. Had they known, they wouldn't have taken loans," Lewis said.

When the Brownsville teachers arrived in the United States, Noel Tolentino took them to job fairs in El Paso, where some of them found employment. OMNI provided teachers for Socorro, Ysleta, Canutillo and El Paso independent school districts.

The U.S. attorney's office has said that 273 Filipino teachers were brought to the United States during 2002-04 and that fewer than 100 actually had jobs waiting for them.

Noel Tolentino shook his head during some of the prosecutor's statements and talked animatedly to his lawyer.

Chris Antcliff, the lawyer for Angelica Tolentino, said his client was innocent.

"I do not believe the government established that any teacher came to the U.S. illegally," Antcliff said.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.