LA MARQUE — La Marque school district Police Chief Russel Washington pleaded Thursday with school trustees to let him keep his job, saying he told lies about trustees taking money because he was afraid of the man who was secretly taping the remarks.

“I’m asking you to give me a chance to come back,” Washington said. “I’ve got some kids here I can save, that I can make a difference in their lives.”

Washington made his first public remarks about the tape recording since it surfaced in April after former school janitor Byron Williams gave the tape to The Daily News.

School officials have said Washington was evasive when confronted about the tape and never offered a satisfactory explanation for the recorded remarks suggesting board members took payments from contractors in a 2002 bond issue.

Washington said he didn’t originally admit having the conversation with Williams because it happened more than a year before the tape surfaced and he didn’t remember it. He also said the tape could have been altered.

Washington said even when he heard the tape, he couldn’t confirm that it was him on the tape because “whenever I’m on tape, I sound different to myself.”

Washington also said he made the remarks in the taped conversation in an effort to humor Williams and get him away from Washington and his family, because he believed Williams might try to hurt them.

Williams pleaded no contest in 2007 to a charge of disorderly conduct after prosecutors said he wrote a threatening letter trying to extort money from former Superintendent Adrain Johnson. Williams agreed to the lesser charge after prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence.

Williams said he taped Washington in an effort to clear his name. When Williams taped the conversation, he told the chief someone else wrote the threatening letter, and the chief agreed with the statement.

But on Thursday, Washington said Williams did write the letter.

He said he couldn’t tell school officials that he was lying to humor Williams because he was afraid of losing his job.

Washington said he’s worked under four superintendents and wants to work under four more because he loves the district and would never leave it. That drew applause from supporters at the hearing.

He also said it was Johnson, the former superintendent, who first suggested to him that former board President Frank Proctor took money in exchange for votes. Washington, however, said there was no evidence to support that. Johnson couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday night.

Washington was still testifying at 10:30 p.m. The hearing, split over two days, has now lasted more than eight hours.