MCALLEN, Texas — A Texas border police officer that worked in a DEA task force has been convicted of faking drug seizures in order to steal cocaine from smugglers.
A federal grand jury convicted former Mission Police Officer Hector “Jojo Mendez” on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. After the trial, Mendez went back into federal custody, U.S. District Judge Randy Crane ordered he be held until his sentencing in September.
Mendez was initially arrested in July 2015 following an investigation into allegations of stolen cocaine, Breitbart Texas reported at the time. The case against Mendez stems from July 2012 when he seized a 1998 Ford Taurus filled with 15 kilograms of cocaine at a restaurant in Mission. Federal prosecutors went after the driver of the car, identified as Salvador Gonzalez; however the case was actually a ruse.
After the indictment, Gonzalez told authorities that the information filed against him was in fact false. Authorities analyzed the seized cocaine and learned that it had been diluted to 18 percent purity, a level considered poor quality. Information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed that on July 25, 2012, Reynol Chapa, 42, of Mission, had received a quantity of cocaine at a residence in Mission. Shortly thereafter, Mendez arrived at Chapa’s residence and collected the bundles of cocaine. Mendez and Chapa had agreed the cocaine would be diluted or cut, then repackaged and staged for a seizure sometime later. The remaining cocaine would then be sold.
On July 28, 2012, a Ford Taurus was staged with the diluted bundles of cocaine in Mission. Mendez and other Mission Police Department officers seized the Taurus and drugs. Chapa made recorded calls to the person who had originally provided the drugs to conceal the fact that the cocaine had been cut and make it seem the bundles had been seized by law enforcement during the supposed transport. Mendez had doctored the reports and information in order to have Gonzalez take the fall for the fake drug bust.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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