McALLEN — The county bailiff facing conspiracy charges allegedly forged U.S. District Judge Dorina Ramos’ signature on a federal search warrant, new court records show.
McALLEN — The county bailiff facing conspiracy charges allegedly forged U.S. District Judge Dorina Ramos’ signature on a federal search warrant, new court records show.
“(De La Cruz) did knowingly forge the signature of Dorina Ramos, a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Texas, for the purposes of authenticating a document, to wit, an anticipatory search and seizure warrant,” the court record shows.
In a newly filed superseding indictment filed Wednesday, Oscar De La Cruz, a former McAllen police officer and three others are named as being part of a drug conspiracy.
The county bailiff was released from custody Tuesday afternoon after the court granted him a $200,000 bond, but the possibility of him facing other charges was mentioned during that hearing.
During that detention hearing the government, represented by Roberto Lopez Jr., claimed they suspected De La Cruz was lying about his finances based on the investigation into him, and the discovery of bank records that showed large unexplained cash deposits.
Lopez asked the court to prohibit De La Cruz from going back to his job at the courthouse because of his access to sensitive information, such as sensitive law enforcement and police documents.
This based on the allegations against De La Cruz, which state he helped with the movement of cocaine by procuring court and police documents related to drug seizures for people working for drug cartels.
In De La Cruz’s complaint, individuals referred to as “CS 1” and “CS 2” outlined how they worked with an official at the county courthouse to get their hands on “fictitious” court documents helping them steal the substance from suppliers.
“CS 1 further stated that during this period, he and others used these false documents to steal more than 5 kilograms of cocaine,” the complaint states.
An additional cooperating source, referred to as CS 2 in the complaint, stated he was using someone named “Oscar,” who was working at the Hidalgo County Courthouse, to help them get their hands on the documents.
Eventually, one of these “fake” documents ended up in the hands of federal agents.
De La Cruz, along with Marin Macrin Cerda, Jose Miguel Montemayor, Cesar Alejandro Tovar-Guillen and Juan Fernando Mata, a former police officer with the McAllen Police Department, who has more than 13 years in law enforcement experience, were named in the superseding indictment, court record shows.
Mata, 39, of Donna, appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon for his arraignment and detention hearing in connection with the allegations.
The government alleges in count one that the aforementioned defendants conspired to possess and distribute more than 5 kilos of cocaine from January 2016 to February, the indictment states.
The government did not oppose granting a bond for Mata, who had surrendered to U.S. Marshals Wednesday, but asked that a condition of his release be that he not seek employment in law enforcement — something his attorney said would not be an issue.
Mata pleaded not guilty to a single drug conspiracy charge in the seven-count indictment.
Inside the nearly empty courtroom were members of Mata’s family, including his mother, sister and brother, who were working with the probation court to settle his bond amount.
U.S. Magistrate J. Scott Hacker said he would take the probation office recommendation and look it over before deciding to grant a bond.
His decision is expected before the end of business day Thursday.
