Ex-priest to Be Sentenced for School District Misconduct

By Guillermo Contreras
San Antonio Express-News
August 7, 2014

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Ex-priest-to-be-sentenced-for-school-district-5674792.php

A former priest who went on to be a top San Antonio Independent School District employee is to be sentenced Friday for awarding himself contracts to perform maintenance work on classrooms for the district.

Anthony “Tony” Mayhan, 67, took a plea deal in October in which he pleaded guilty to one count of bribery so three other bribery charges could be dismissed. His lawyer, Don Flanary, is hoping his client's past as a cleric can win him leniency. His past was previously undisclosed but was made public this week in a court document Flanary filed.

Mayhan was ordained a priest in 1978 and was granted rare special permission from the Vatican to leave the priesthood in 1991 in good standing. That allowed him to serve as a communion minister and to marry his wife in the church, Flanary wrote in a sentencing memorandum to Chief U.S. District Judge Fred Biery.

Mayhan also was director of teacher personnel for the Archdiocese of San Antonio before joining SAISD as the compliance monitor of its federal programs department.