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Manny Aragon and three others were indicted today on charges that they defrauded taxpayers of $4.2 million during the construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court.

Also indicted were former Court Administrator Toby Martinez, his wife, Sandra Martinez, and Raul Parra, a contractor.

Each was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced this afternoon.

Three other people, including former Albuquerque Mayor Ken Schultz, have accepted guilty pleas in connection with the investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Schultz, Marc Schiff, the president of the architecture firm that designed the courthouse, and Manuel Guara, a board member with Parra's contracting firm, will be sentenced at a future date, according to a news release.

Aragon, the former state Senate president widely viewed as the most powerful politician in the state during his hey-day in the 1990s, had been at the center of speculation since the federal investigation first came to light a year ago.

That investigation focused on allegations of kickbacks and padded contracts in the construction of the $83 million Metro Courthouse complex, which opened in 2004 in Downtown Albuquerque and required an additional $3.9 million in state funds.

The investigation also looked at the construction of the adjacent $45 million state District Courthouse, completed in 2001, and the $90 million Metro Detention Center, completed in 2002, but charges filed Thursday focused solely on Metro Court.

Parra was the subject of a 2002 lawsuit by a former business partner alleging that their firm, Technologies West, had been paid for work it never did.

Harvey Peel, who filed that suit, testified that the company's books contained a mysterious entry titled "Manny - 50,000."

That amount matched a $50,000 check made out to cash, he said in depositions for the lawsuit.

The case against Aragon and others will be handled by Jonathon Gerson, the same attorney who prosecuted former state Treasurer Robert Vigil.

He will be assisted by Paula Burnett of the U.S. Attorney's Office and Chris Lackman of the state's Attorney General's Office.