Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department Commander arrested by feds for money laundering and marijuana smuggling

By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department Commander, Jose A. Padilla, age 53, was arrested Tuesday, December 24, 2013, by federal agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Hidalgo County, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley for alleged conspiracy of money laundering and marijuana smuggling. Padilla was arrested after returning home from a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Padilla is the second highest ranking officer in the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department, second only to Sheriff Lupe Trevino. The Rio Grande Valley has been gripped by the federal government’s investigation, indictment, and arrest of over 10 South Texas law enforcement officers from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department and Mission Police Department in the case known as “the Panama Unit” case during the past one and a half years. The Panama Unit was a special street level drug task force designed to prevent drug trafficking in Hidalgo County comprised of Sheriff deputies and police officers, including the son of Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino, Jonathan Trevino, a Mission Police Department Detective, and the son of Hidalgo Police Chief Rudy Espinoza, Alexis Espinoza, a Mission Police Department officer.

A total of nine Panama Unit case defendants, including Jonathan Trevino and Alexis Espinoza, pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of conspiracy of smuggling drugs and/or money laundering in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in McAllen, Texas, and a tenth defendant, Hidalgo County Sheriff Deputy Jorge Garza went to trial and a federal jury found him guilty of federal conspiracy charges of money laundering and smuggling marijuana.

The Panama Unit case has earned notoriety in the Rio Grande Valley and throughout the U.S.-Mexico border because it depicts the corruption of law enforcement officers by criminal organizations. The greatest threat to U.S. national security is the infiltration of and corruption of its very own local, state, and federal law enforcement officers by criminal organizations. Any infiltration or corruption of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies by criminal organizations is a serious threat to national security.

Padilla is allegedly charged with providing protection to suspected drug traffickers during drug transactions. Due to the Christmas holiday, the federal court house was closed and Padilla is expected to appear before a federal judge immediately after the Christmas holiday.

Nine of the Panama Unit scandal case defendants were set to be sentenced in U.S. Disrict Court for the Southern District of Texas on December 19, 2013, but their sentencing hearings were postponed until a future date by the Court in the interest of justice.

During the trial of Deputy Sheriff Jorge Garza, witnesses testified that Hidalgo County Sheriff Commander Jose A. Padilla was the enforcer for Sheriff Lupe Trevino and requested Deputies to contribute to Sheriff Trevino’s re-election campaign. Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino has not been indicted nor charged with any wrongdoing and maintains he has dedicated his entire law enforcement career to fighting against corruption.

Padilla faces up to life in prison if convicted of the federal drug charges and up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the money laundering federal charges.