RAYMONDVILLE — Green Party congressional candidate Vanessa Tijerina cried foul Friday after she was arrested in front of her son while in Raymondville.
Declining to divulge the charges, Tijerina indicated on Facebook the arrest was an attempt to keep her in jail over the weekend so she couldn’t drum up support for her campaign during early voting. She is running for the U.S. Representative District 15 seat against Democrat attorney Vicente Gonzalez and Republican pastor Tim Westley. Current U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa is retiring at the end of the year.
“This arrest was the collaboration of multiple state officials I have been vocal against in regards to corruption,” Tijerina said.
“The purpose of this type of arrest, during a campaign, is to force the candidate to explain themselves and the charges against them. I’m not going to fall into that trap … I will leave it up to the officials that arrested me to release those details,” she later stated.
Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence also said he’d leave it to the district attorney to disclose the charges. Spence said Tijerina was arrested when a sealed indictment was handed down through the district attorney’s office late Friday afternoon. She was released on bond about two hours later and is set to be formally indicted Monday morning.
Saturday, Tijerina posted several updates, including video of her arrest.
It’s Tijerina’s third arrest since she began speaking out against perceived corruption in Raymondville and Willacy County, she stated.
