Santa Clara County Fairgrounds employee charged with extortion and bribery

Obdula-Banuelos Esparza, a former employee for the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, has been accused of illegally accepting thousands of dollars per month in bribes from Richmond-based security firm 4Diamond Security at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

These allegations come at the conclusion of a yearlong investigation by the District Attorney's office, after an anonymous whistleblower reported that Esparza engaged in the quid-pro-quo with 4Diamond, among other accusations of misconduct. If convicted, she faces up to four years in jail for felony extortion and bribery charges.

"The payments started out at around $2,500 per month, but eventually grew to close to $4,000 per month," the DA's Office said in a press release, claiming that Esparza repeatedly threatened to terminate the security company's contract unless they capitulated to her demands.

The press release later goes on to allege that when 4Diamond eventually refused to continue paying Esparza, the company's contract was not renewed.

Exact details of how much 4Diamond benefitted as a result of the arrangement are currently unclear. Annual fiscal reports show the fairgrounds spent in excess of $291,000 and $626,000 on "security and sheriff" in 2020 and 2021, respectively. A spokesperson for the company last week refused to discuss their relationship with Esparza, but mentioned that a press release was potentially forthcoming.

Salene Duarte, the co-executive director of the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, told NBC Bay Area that Esparza resigned from her position in May of this year, and that there is "no place" for Esparza's alleged behavior at the fairgrounds.

Esparza, who is expected to surrender to authorities, was initially hired by the fairgrounds as a "Marketing and Events Consultant" in late 2018, according to her publicly available LinkedIn profile.