𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗔 𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗭𝗔 𝗖𝗢𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗦𝗬𝗟𝗩𝗜𝗔 𝗔𝗧𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗙𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘 (𝗔𝗗𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗨𝗠: 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗨 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗡 𝗦𝗔𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗢)

 

TSC Board Chair Adela Garza with longtime associate Sylvia Atkinson 

We've received a confirmed report that former BISD Trustee Sylvia Atkinson has completed her term at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum security facility for women, and transferred to a halfway house for convicts, the Geo Group Reality House, 5965 Frontage Road, Brownsville.

Geo Group Reality House

This constitutes a considerable reduction of Atkinson's 6-1/2 year sentence for bribery with an original release date of March 2026.

Atkinson was charged with accepting a $10,000 bribe to place an item on the BISD Board meeting agenda from someone commonly known as Rodrigo Moreno of Pink Ape Media. 

F.B.I. wiretaps monitored the duo of Atkinson and Garza making plans to solicit business from the Brownsville Independent School District.

A shadow company, "Sunshine Solutions," would receive money from those business deals, a company the duo were careful to list with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in Adela Garza's name, since Atkinson, as a member of the BISD Board of Trustees, could not legally profit from a contract with BISD.

Atkinson and Garza held long range plans way beyond BISD, already approaching Rio Hondo ISD with their telehealth company, but, in conversation, mentioning Garland, San Antonio and El Paso.

"I'm the contact, but you have to be the face (of the company,)" Atkinson told Garza.

The pair were also recorded discussing potential ethical and contract problems and how to navigate around those issues.

"This may be wrong, but it's not illegal," Atkinson told Garza at one point.

In a recorded conversation, Atkinson and Garza agree that despite Garza being the "face" of the company, they would illegally split the commission.

One of the business deals involved iTutor, a service the duo pitched to BISD Assistant Superintendent Bertha Pena according to iTutor employee Yvette Ramos' trial testimony.

Surveillance photos show Garza and Atkinson outside the BISD Administration Building before a sales meeting to sell iTutor app to the district.

Atkinson was also charged with bid-rigging in a $25,000 computer pilot project at Rio Hondo ISD and campaign contribution violations for BISD in 2014.

Addendum: After posting this article, I received a call from a local attorney who provided evidence that Sylvia P. Atkinson is actually in a San Antonio Federal prison facility. . . .  

Hoping not to appear wishy-washy, I've received information from two additional sources indicating that Sylvia Atkinson is at the Brownsville facility I first mentioned.  RRM San Antonio has simply not updated their listings.  

Jim