The credit card abuse and forgery case against a former Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office commander who is a federal convict is in the hands of the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office.
An unopposed motion for a continuance filed Monday in federal supervised release revocations proceedings against Jose “Joe” Padilla asks for his hearing to be delayed so that he can see whether the 10 counts of credit card abuse and three counts of forgery financial instrument could be adjudicated or dismissed.
“Jose Padilla seeks to continue this hearing because The Pharr Police Department just recently submitted its investigative file over to Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office,” the motion stated. “The decision to indict or not against Mr. Padilla has not been presented to a grand jury.”
The hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Padilla, who was known as the right-hand man of former sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño, was sentenced to a little more than three years in federal prison in 2014 for using drug money to fund lavish trips, according to newspaper archives.
Treviño, his former boss, is also a federal convict who served five years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering after accepting a campaign contribution from a drug trafficker.
After Padilla’s arrest last August, federal authorities sought to revoke his supervised release because he was arrested.
Those proceedings have been on hold pending the state’s criminal case against him.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a ruling hadn’t been issued on the unopposed motion.
