Former DA sentenced 13 years in corruption case
By EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO Valley Morning Star
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced former Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos to 13 years in federal prison for his role in a racketeering scheme involving bribery and extortion, and directed U.S. Marshals to take him into custody.
Villalobos was convicted of favoritism, improper influence, personal self-enrichment, self-dealing, concealment and conflict of interest in the course of activity that prosecutors said took place from October 2006 through May 3, 2012. A jury on May 24, 2013 convicted Villalobos on a count of racketeering, a second count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and five counts of extortion. The jury acquitted him of two counts of extortion. U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen acquitted him on a third count of extortion on Tuesday, leaving standing six convictions.
Following an approximately four-hour proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville, Hanen also ordered Villalobos to make $339,000 in restitution to Cameron County and to the children of the late Hermila Hernandez, who was killed by murderer Amit M. Livingston, who remains at large.
Hanen also assessed a $5,000 fine on each of the six convictions against Villalobos for a total of $30,000 and also ordered that he be placed under supervised release for three years after completing the prison term.
Shortly before sentencing Villalobos to 156 months in prison, Hanen said that he was weighing both positive factors about Villalobos as brought forth during trial and in letters to the court and the negatives, as also brought forth during trial.
Hanen said he also considered the office of trust that Villalobos had held, noting that discretion “can’t be for sale … it can’t be dispensed to only those who have the right connections politically or the right lawyer …”
Hanen found that a 156-month sentence “protects the public and promotes respect for the law.” Hanen also explained the sentence by noting that while Villalobos was convicted of serious offenses, he did consider that the possibility of Villalobos repeating criminal activity “is virtually nil.”
Defense attorneys Norton Colvin Jr., Joel M. Androphy and Ashley Gargour requested probation for their client or in the alternative probation coupled with home confinement.
The charges against Villalobos stemmed from a years’ long federal investigation that initially focused on ex-404th state District Judge Abel C. Limas, but soon branched out to include slightly more than a dozen defendants.
“The most important component of an effective justice system is the public’s ability to trust those who are responsible for enforcing the law,” U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said in a written statement. “But even when there is a breach of that trust, as in this case, the public should take some comfort in knowing that there is a mechanism for detecting, rooting out and punishing those who would corrupt the process,” Pitman added.
During the sentencing hearing Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Surovic said Villalobos failed in his responsibilities as the state’s chief law enforcement officer in Cameron County.
“Mr. Villalobos was selling people’s lives. He was selling justice,” Surovic said.
He said that there will be questions about justice in Cameron County for many years to come, affecting prosecutors and courts everywhere, and “dragging them through the mud.”
“He has done incalculable damage,” Surovic told Hanen, noting that Villalobos needed to be sentenced in the upper end of the sentencing range.
Defense attorneys said that 40 letters had been submitted on Villalobos’ behalf, that he has two children, a large and supportive family, and that he is committed to and has a bond with his family.
Villalobos cried when he addressed the court.
He said that there was so much to say, but because he will appeal his conviction, he couldn’t address everything. Villalobos said that he had tried to do his best.
Before his sentencing, Hernandez’s mother Hermila Garcia addressed Hanen, thanking him for giving her the opportunity to voice how Villalobos’ conduct has impacted the family.
Garcia said that Villalobos had done what a “ladron” or thief does: “He robbed us of justice to sell a murderer his freedom.”
Limas on Feb. 13, 2007 convicted Livingston for Hernandez’s murder, sentenced him to 23 years in prison, but gave him a 60-day pass. Prosecutors maintain that this freed Livingston’s $500,000 bond. The money was attached as settlement in a parallel civil lawsuit that Villalobos’ ex-law partner Eduardo “Eddie” Lucio filed against Livingston on behalf of the victim’s then-husband and their three children. Livingston never returned to court and today is a wanted fugitive.
The evidence showed that Villalobos recommended Lucio to the victim’s husband. Of the $500,000 cash bond, $300,000 was awarded to the victim’s children, Lucio received the remaining $200,000 in attorney fees, and prosecutors maintain that he kicked back $80,000 to Villalobos.
Garcia told Hanen that it is not just that people without scruples or shame be in front of the Constitution, invalidating laws that all citizens have a right to.
“He mocked us and all citizens,” Garcia told Hanen, urging that he consider Villalobos’ position of district attorney upon sentencing, adding that his duty had been to defend victims, and not to line his pockets.
Reprinted by permission of the Harlingen Valley Morning Star
http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/local_news/article_6ebb1c90-939c-11e3-b2cb-0017a43b2370.html
