A former Starr County justice of the peace and another Rio Grande City man have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a narcotics-trafficking scheme. The ex-judge, Roel Valadez Jr., 33, and Diego Alberto Reyes-Roiz, 43, previously pled guilty in March, with their sentences doled out by Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Reyes-Roiz received a 22-year sentence and a subsequent five-year term of supervised release. The court pegged him as the kingpin, responsible for funneling roughly 43 kilograms of methamphetamine, alongside significant deliveries of cocaine and marijuana, from Mexico into Texas. This formed part of a larger criminal thread in which Valadez, who officiated as a justice of the peace from 2018, was enmeshed by offering judicial favors. Valadez's sentence is 21 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
According to a U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani's statement, Valadez abused his office to aid a drug-trafficking associate. Authorities exposed Valadez's attempts to free a detained courier and influence the bonding process. This betrayal of the law "he swore an oath to uphold" raises poignant questions about the integrity of small-town justice systems and the influences that may corrupt them.
Additional fallout from the case is expected as one of the operation's heads, Ignacio Garza, 53, of Rio Grande City, awaits sentencing. Slated for September 5, Garza's potential penalties loom large with the possibility of life imprisonment and fines that could reach $10 million. A deeper examination by the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and other task forces has shed light on the extensive reach of these criminal activities, further chronicled on the Department of Justice’s OCDETF webpage.
