McALLEN — Two women told a federal judge Wednesday that they helped Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner Sylvia Handy fleece taxpayers out of more than $111,000.

Maria de los Angeles Landa de Hernandez, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and conceded she collected a county paycheck while working as Handy’s personal housekeeper and babysitter over a period of five years. During that time, Hernandez did no actual government work and did not have legal status to work in the country.

Eloisa Andrade Uriegas, a 58-year-old McAllen schools employee, said she loaned Hernandez her Social Security number so as not to draw attention on personnel records.

Their court hearing Wednesday marks the first admissions of guilt in an investigation that has hounded Hidalgo County’s first elected female commissioner for more than two years.

But Handy continued to assert her innocence, and her attorney questioned the motives of her co-defendants.

Under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, both Hernandez and Uriegas have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing case. The government will likely recommend a reduced sentence for both women should their assistance prove useful.

“People who are guilty plead guilty,” said Al Alvarez, Handy’s lawyer. “We haven’t because we’re not guilty. I really think you have to look at what these women are getting in exchange for their guilty pleas.”

FBI agents arrested Handy, 52, and her 35-year-old husband, Juan Gabriel Espronceda, at their Weslaco home April 2. Both stand accused of multiple counts of conspiracy and harboring illegal immigrants.

According to a 76-page indictment, Handy put Hernandez and another illegal immigrant who remains unindicted in the case on her Precinct 1 payroll under assumed names. Although both were granted jobs as maintenance workers, prosecutors allege neither did any work in the office for the thousands of dollars in pay and benefits they received.

Hernandez, who received a government paycheck up until January 2006, even received several sham promotions and used part of her salary to make regular $600 loan payments to the bank that held Handy’s mortgage on a plot of land the commissioner had purchased in Mercedes, the indictment states.

Hernandez finally gave up her position more than a year before a county audit raised questions about payroll practices in Handy’s office.

Handy’s former attorney – Ralph Martinez – has previously said Hernandez worked in the commissioner’s home but that Handy had no knowledge of the woman’s immigration status. He said his client later helped the woman find a legitimate county job after she left the commissioner’s household.

Alvarez, Handy’s current attorney, said Wednesday evening that he was not yet familiar enough with the case to back Martinez’s statements.

“The truth always comes out in court,” he said. “We look forward to the chance to tell our side of the story.”

Hernandez and Uriegas each face up to 10 years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for later this year.

Handy and Espronceda are set to face a jury next month.