The answer for us is very simple
Posted on 12/15/2005 9:51:41 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
BROWNSVILLE — Former Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu and four co-defendants received prison terms Tuesday for a racketeering enterprise that solicited bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for safe passage through this border county.
A stern U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle sentenced Cantu to 24 years and two months in prison, with five years of supervision after his release. Cantu is to serve nearly all of the sentence before he can be freed.
The judge said she was personally disappointed Cantu and his friends used his power as sheriff to help distribute illegal drugs while undermining the nation's security. Investigators were able to trace drugs that he helped smuggle through Cameron County as far into the country as Ohio.
"What you did to abuse that trust is egregious," Tagle told Cantu. "You promoted disrespect for the laws of the state of Texas and the U.S."
An emotional and rambling Cantu asked Tagle for mercy, saying he was a changed man who was tired of crying.
"I've cried for six months in a room by myself," he said, adding he committed the crimes when he was drinking heavily and "lost in sin and alcohol."
"All the pressure just got to me," Cantu said. "I should have stopped, but it was just overwhelming."
Federal prosecutors say Cantu, 50, engaged in corruption from the day he took office in January 2001 until he left four years later.
Embarrassing jailbreaks, the loss of $1.5 million in federal reimbursements at the jail and a campaign-related indictment caught up with Cantu, and he lost in 2004 to Omar Lucio, the incumbent sheriff he defeated in 2000.
He pleaded guilty in July to the federal racketeering charge.
Cantu's son, Conrado Jr., and a local pastor were the only people to testify on his behalf.
The former sheriff asked the court to look at the good he had done in office, pointing to neighborhood anti-crime programs and an Explorer program for students interested in law enforcement.
But Tagle interrupted after five minutes, saying: "Instead of using your charisma to help your community — your self-professed charisma — you used your charisma to betray your community."
She called co-defendant Geronimo Garcia the middle manager between drug traffickers and the sheriff.
"Who knows how much damage you were responsible for," Tagle said to Garcia, adding the drug smugglers could have easily transported weapons or used the laundered money for other illicit purposes.
Tagle sentenced Garcia to 91/2 years in prison on a racketeering charge with five years of supervised release.
Cantu and Garcia, detained since their arrests in June, were ordered to begin serving their sentences immediately. The others were allowed to remain free on bond pending an order to report to prison.
"Mr. Cantu sold his badge and his office, and we will not tolerate that," U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a prepared statement. "His long sentence ... fits the crime, for it is simply inexcusable for a law enforcement official to violate the very laws he is sworn to uphold."
Also sentenced were Garcia's brother-in-law Reynaldo Uribe, 41, of Brownsville, to 16 months for money laundering; former sheriff's Capt. Rumaldo Rodriguez, 50, to 14 months for racketeering; and restaurant owner Hector Solis, 40, to six months for obstructing justice.
Earlier, Tagle rejected motions for probation from Uribe, Solis and Rodriguez, saying that would be a "slap to the face of justice."
Solis, who admitted he called Cantu to ask when slot machine parlors in San Benito would be raided, received the maximum term under federal sentencing guidelines.
The judge accepted prosecutors' recommendations for a lesser term for Uribe, who could have received as much as 24 months. Uribe admitted he agreed to transport drug proceeds from Robstown to Brownsville.
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jzarazua@express-news.net
Demonrats!
Starr County Texas has more corruption than any in the US.
I bet this makes Ronnie Earle nervous about getting caught for indicting Tom DeLay for political reasons.
Demonrats Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
As Mexican corruption oozes northward into Texas
Yep, they don’t tolerate corruption….they demand it.
The answer for us is very simple
Strange, isn't it, that they're all Democrats, yet they think the same way as George W. Bush does about Mexico.
"Socialism needs two legs on which to stand; a right (R) and a left (D). While appearing to be in complete opposition to one another, they both march in the same direction."
Paul Proctor
Hidalgo county might beg to differ.
Boo freakin' hoo. Here's hoping his new cell mate Bubba will offer more than a comforting shoulder.
"I've cried for six months in a room by myself," he said, adding he committed the crimes when he was drinking heavily and "lost in sin and alcohol."
Well he is going to have a lot more crying to do, sans alcohol. And he won't be alone. That might have something to do with why he will be doing a lot more crying. ;)
If you're saying that I'm a Libertarian, you certainly have got that picture wrong.
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