Thread: Feds arrest woman who said she paid bribe to reduce bond; Rep. Canales denies wrongdo

Feds arrest woman who said she paid bribe to reduce bond; Rep. Canales denies wrongdoing

$2.45 million bond reduction allowed man to avoid prosecution through deportation

Posted: Friday, January 16, 2015 9:15 am
JACOB FISCHLER AND JARED TAYLOR

McALLEN — Federal agents arrested a woman who said she bribed an Hidalgo County justice of the peace and a local attorney so a Mexican national facing drug trafficking charges would post bond, be deported and avoid prosecution.

Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Sylvia San Juanita Vasquez on Monday. She was formally charged with accessory to after the fact.

The case against Vasquez reveals previously unknown details into the ongoing federal investigation into Ochoa, who pleaded guilty to bribery last month in the 370th state District Court and was sentenced to probation.

Former Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Ismael “Melo” Ochoa reduced the defendant’s bond from $2.5 million to $50,000 less than a month after his arraignment. That allowed him to post bond at the Hidalgo County Jail and led federal authorities to deport him to Mexico, according to a criminal complaint.

The complaint identifies the lawyer who helped obtain the bond reduction only as “a local attorney.”

But State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, confirmed Wednesday that he represented Mexican national and petitioned Ochoa to have his bond reduced.

Canales represented Luis Martinez-Gallegos, a Mexican national without immigration status, following his arrest in February 2010.

“I filed a legal bond reduction. It was reduced, and that was the long and the short of it,” Canales said. “I’ve filed, in my career, hundreds of bond reductions.”

Drug Enforcement Adminstration agents had been investigating a drug trafficking organization responsible for moving “hundreds of kilograms of cocaine,” the complaint states.

Agents and Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies found Martinez with 89 kilograms of cocaine, the complaint states. He was formally charged in Ochoa’s court.

The criminal complaint against Vasquez doesn’t name Martinez’s lawyer. But it says the lawyer took a bribe to help have his client’s bond reduced.

“I was his attorney, I would imagine that’s what they would allege I guess,” Canales said. “But I’ve never given Melo anything, so I don’t know.”

Vasquez is set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos at a hearing Tuesday in McAllen. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

‘PAY OFF’

Three confidential informants told agents they helped pay the bribe to Martinez’s lawyer and Ochoa.

The first confidential informant, identified as "CI#1," helped provide $100,000 to Vasquez to coax Ochoa into reducing bond for the defendant, Luis Martinez Gallegos, who was arrested by Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies assisting DEA agents in February 2010.

Vasquez “told CI#1 that this money was supposed to ‘pay off’ the judge, pay the attorney” and secure Martinez’s bond, the complaint states.

Without legal status in the U.S., officials had placed an immigration detainer on him. And after he posted the $50,000 bond, he was deported to Mexico, the complaint states.

The first informant paid part of the $100,000 along with another person, identified as “CI#2,” the second informant in the criminal complaint.

The second informant identified themselves as a drug trafficker to federal agents. That informant paid $70,000 for the bribe and bond for Martinez, the complaint states.

“CI#2 told agents that CI#2 did not initially believe that CI#1 would be able to make the plan work due to that amount of cocaine and Gallegos’ illegal status,” the complaint states, “however, CI#2 later learned that the bail had been reduced” and that Martinez’s bond had posted and he had been deported.

A third informant, “CI#3,” told agents that Vasquez contacted them in early 2010 about Martinez’s arrest.

Vasquez told the third informant that she knew Martinez would not be released — only turned over to “immigration officials” if he posted bond, the complaint states.

The third informant called an attorney in March 2010 known for being able to convince Ochoa to reduce defendants’ bonds, the complaint states.

The third informant told agents they retrieved a bag from a vehicle that “contained a large sum of currency” and gave it to Vasquez and the attorney, who agreed to help have Martinez’s bond reduced and posted.

Vasquez told agents who said she had met with the first informant about helping Martinez post bond so he would be deported and avoid prosecution, the complaint states.

While meeting with the lawyer, Vasquez said a call was placed to someone she believed to be a judge. The attorney told her that the judge would be willing to reduce Martinez’s bail for $10,000.

Vasquez “stated the currency was delivered to the attorney as payment for arranging for the bond reduction,” the complaint states, “and ensuring the bond was posted so that (Martinez) would be deported.”

She later learned from the first informant that Martinez “had in fact been deported,” the complaint says.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...28691bb6a.html


Sylvia San Juanita Vasquez




Former Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Jose Ismael "Melo" Ochoa was booked into the Hidalgo County Jail on Oct. 30, 2014.



State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg

American justice system at work!