A former Santa Clara County Fairgrounds employee has been convicted of demanding kickbacks from a security company contracted by the fairgrounds and will now have to pay back the money.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office charged Obdulia Banuelos-Esparza, 42, last year with bribing the owner of 4 Diamond Security in exchange for her recommendation that the company continue patrolling the 150-acre East San Jose fairgrounds.

Officials said that Banuelos-Esparza — who served as the director of events and marketing — asked the owner of the security company to pay her a monthly percentage of the money it received from its contract with the fairgrounds. When the owner refused, Banuelos-Esparza accused the company’s security guards of sleeping on the job and warned that the cont

See Full Page