GOING OUT ON A LIMB: BETANCOURT NEW FED MAGISTRATE?

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

As many mainstream and social media pundits know, trying to get a confirmation on anything from our federal courthouse is like pulling teeth. That's why when a rumor grows legs, we have to throw out this new item and warn our readers that we have not been able to confirm it.

The rumor? That the federal judiciary has chosen Asst. U.S. Attorney and prosecutor Karen Betancourt as a new magistrate.

As the story goes, some 50 attorneys and jurists vied for the position and the number was whittled down to five. Sources say that Chief Municipal Judge Rene de Coss was among the top 10, but did not make the final five. In the end, they said, it came down to four others and Betancourt.

If the story is correct, the federal government made a good choice as Betancourt has been involved in several high-profile involving the prosecution of Gulf Cartel ( Cartel Del Golfo) bosses and operatives. She and fellow prosecutor Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jody Young were the lead prosecutors of Jorge Costilla-Sanchez aka El Cos, Doble X and Dos Equis who became head of CDG after the arrest of former CDG leader Osiel Cardenas in 2003. Prior to joining the cartel, Costilla-Sanchez was a municipal police officer in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

He was arrested in 2012 in Mexico at the request of the United States and in 2015. Costilla-Sanchez also previously pleaded guilty to threatening two federal agents from the FBI and while he was being investigated for drug trafficking in 1999. During the time Costilla-Sanchez was the leader, he was responsible for importing over 10,000 kilograms of cocaine and 140,000 kilograms of marijuana to the United States. She is also a lead prosecutor in the case involving former Tamaulipas Governor Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba who pleaded guilty to money laundering.

At the time of Costilla-Sanchez's sentencing September 15, 2022, to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery complimented their work.

This was a long, but very important case to the district and especially our partners in Brownsville," said Lowery. "The life sentence speaks for itself. Justice has now been served.”

A 1994 graduate of the University of Houston Law Center, she has been a practicing attorney for 28 years and lists Spanish and American Sign Language as other languages. Her online profile lists immigration and criminal defense as her main areas of practice.