THE TANGLED WEB WEAVES AROUND DE LA FUENTE, LIMAS, AND NOW, VILLALOBOS

By Juan Montoya

Add a homicide suspect walking free in Mexico to the case of Amit Livingston who walked away from a murder conviction and left behind a $500,000 cash surety bond to the list of questionable cases involving premeditated killings that slipped though the fingers of local law enforcement.

In both these cases, the evidence points to a pivotal role played not only by disgraced former 404th District Judge Abel Limas, but also to the office of Cameron County Attorney Armando Villalobos.

The newest case stemming from the Limas fiasco involves some well-known characters – Jaime Munivez, who served as an investigator for Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos from 2005 and  pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion, and Limas’ alleged former middleman Jose Manuel “Meme” Longoria, who pleaded guilty in November, also to extortion.

 This time the case involved murder suspect Jose Alfredo “Pepe” Villarreal, 55, who was arrested by law enforcement in connection with Gonzalez’s slaying Feb. 15, 2007. The Brownsville Herald's emma Perez-Treviño reported that almost two years later, on March 29, 2007, he was released to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Muñivez stated in his plea agreement with the federal government that he had gone to Matamoros and passed along information to Villarreal regarding his murder charge through May 2011, and at one time received a bicycle aside from money in exchange.

A grand jury indicted Villarreal in Gonzalez’s slaying on Dec. 12, 2007 and a $400,000 bond was set Jan. 7, 2008.

What happened between the time the bond was posted and Jan. 30 has not been explained. However, Villarreal didn't make an appearance in court that day and the court was told that he was in federal custody. Only days later – on Feb. 7, 2008 –  was not in federal custody and the court on Feb. 13, 2008, forfeited the bond and issued a warrant for his arrest.

His attorney Oscar De La Fuente and the bond company appeared in court and said that Villarreal was not able to cross from Mexico because of the arrest warrant.

How was it that Mando Villalobos' office did not know that Villarreal was already in Mexico, and how did he get there when he was supposed to be in custody of state, if not federal officials?

The players in the drama – Muñivez, Longoria, De La Fuente, Limas, and Villolobos – have a lot of explaining to do.

Picture this scenario: Villarreal is under custody and being taken to Rucker-Carrizales by two law enforcement officers when they get a phone call from an unknown source. They are instructed to pull over to the side of the road and hand over Villarreal to the occupants of a car following behind their vehicle.
In that car is the murder suspect's wife who takes him in and then heads back toward the Rio Grande, and freedom in Mexico.
Our sources indicate that this unbelievable scene is what actually happened in this case and ask: Who made the phone call and with whose authority? Was it one, or all of the above?
One thing is indisputable, Longoria and Muñivez at one time worked for Limas. Villalobos at one time was the counsel of record for Limas' 404th District Court, and Muñivez at the time of his arrest worked as a DA investigator for Villalobos. And we know that the unidentified Person G was probably someone high in law enforcement circles or within the DA's office.

Let's not forgrt that it was under Villalobos' watch that both convicted killer Amit Livingston got a 60-day grace period to "get his things in order" and fled the country, and that Villarreal absconded while under Cameron County law enforcement custody.

In the Livingston case, former Villalobos law partner Eddie Lucio kept half of the $500,000 cash bond that Limas ordered be split between that attorney and the victim's family. And as the federal plea-bargain documents also show, employees within the DA's office also got more than "gas money" for the maneuvers that saw a suspected killer go free in Mexico.

But, as Villalobos makes his run at a congressional seat, will his pleading ignorance over the shenenigans being pulled in front of his nose and by personel within in his office smear his reputation aas well?
We suspect that it's true that the feds will soon run out of letters in the alphabet to single out those players in the judicial and law enforcement circles of Cameron County. Could the letters ODF, AV, ADG, EL, and MT be the next to make their appearance in this insane alphabet soup of corruption?