A former Texas sheriff was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Thursday for helping Mexican smugglers move drugs through his county on the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes.That Guerra will never work in law enforcement again is comforting, but how many more officers are out there on the take is anybody's guess.U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced former Starr County Sheriff Reymundo "Rey" Guerra to 64 months in prison and four years of supervised release. The sentence was less than the eight to 10 years recommended under federal sentencing guidelines, but Guerra admitted his guilt early and cooperated with authorities, Crane said.
FBI agents arrested Guerra at his office in October. Prosecutors termed Guerra a "minor participant" in a drug trafficking conspiracy busted by operation "Carlito's Weigh." Twenty-eight people have been indicted so far in the investigation stretching from South Texas to Houston and into Mexico.
Prosecutors say Guerra made it easier for people tied to the Gulf Cartel to move drugs into the United States and, at least once, intervened in one of his own department's investigations to try to throw deputies off. He pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to distribute narcotics.
See related Grits posts:
- Elected Sheriff receiving border security funds allegedly worked for Gulf Cartel
- McAllen probation officer screened job applicants for drug cartel
- Cartel violence so far stays in Mexico but corruption has crossed the river
- Better border strategies needed for journalist, witness protection, unmasking corruption
- Border Corruption Runs Amok
- Border corruption hinders border security
- What do we know about US-side cartel infrastrucure?
.jpg)
12 comments:
Is Mexico a narco state? We seem to be adopting that culture in the US as well.
The US is not a narco state yet. But if prohibition is not repealed and replaced with legalized access to prohibited drugs by adults it is only a matter of time.
This is just the latest example of the pervasive corruption of justice systems generated by prohibition policies that shift control and access to drugs into the hands of criminal syndicates.
Who should sell brown tar heroin?
Probably no one would sell black tar heroin because legal sources of clean heroin with known purity and potency would be available to adults who choose to use.
The crime would no longer be use, sales or production but diversion from the legal and regulated system.
PS - there would be little demand for black tar because cleaner and safer options would be legally accessible.
FIVE years? Why didn't they enhance this with a gun charge? He certainly had firearms accessible while he was perverting the trust bestowed on him. The feds don't hesitate to add gun charges at the slightest excuse with anyone else.
You have to ask - as many citizens will, very soon - just how much more money can we spend on incarceration for drug offenses when people need that money for basic survival, i.e. unemployment insurance.
The DrugWar is like peeing on fires in wastebaskets while Rome's got a 4-alarm blaze going. This country's got to re-order its' fiscal (and social!) priorities if we're going to survive what may come down the pike.
Anon 7:03:
"FIVE years? Why didn't they enhance this with a gun charge? "
Absolutely! If a person robs a bank, even without pulling a gun, and even if it cannot be seen it caught, they will get the enhancement every time. Another case of who you know, Texas style...
Unless it's a federal charge, 5 years is about a year and a half and that's for how many tonnes?
I know people who caught 5 years for less than 3 grams.
Anyhow, at least I'm not hearing "Isolated Incident and 3 months paid administrative leave".
@kaptinemo, now I know what it feels like to flush a mouthful of espresso out of my nose. thank you, thank you, thank you......,
B17(|-|.
I believe the criminalization of drugs was a conspiracy to destroy this nation from within by corruption at the highest political, governmental and banking systems in the U.S. and world. Just think of the trillions of dollars that have been made off of it, just by the banking systems alone laundering of the drug money, legal slavery is alive and well today due to the criminalization and ethnic targeting of ethnic groups.--reason marajuna was criminizaled in the first place was in order to be able to deport Mexicans out of the U.S.and enrich the oil industry as petroleum replaced many of the things marajauna was used for. Opium to target the Chinese ,Cocaine, blacks, hallucinations , for fear peoples minds might be expanded and they would rise up and refuse to participate in their wars. Most all ancient cultures considered these substances as sacred, not evil . Drugs , like anything else are good or evil according to how they are used by our own conciousness
How about a life sentence for this "Sheriff"? This is nothing more than a slap on the hand but then again, the Sheriff would be in the same "club" as his sentencing judge.
Post a Comment