Former Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos is now in “community confinement” and no longer incarcerated in a federal correctional institute.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed on Monday to The Brownsville Herald that Villalobos was transferred to community confinement on Dec. 8, which is overseen by the Bureau of Prison’s San Antonio Residential Reentry Management Office.
“Community confinement means the inmate is in either in home confinement or a Residential Reentry Center (RR, or halfway house,)” stated Emery Nelson, spokesperson for the Office of Public Affairs for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Because of privacy, safety and security reasons, the BOP cannot release information on Villalobos’ conditions of confinement.
Prior to his transfer Villalobos had been held at the Bureau of Prisons Federal Correctional Institute in Forrest City, Ark.
On Feb. 11, 2014, Villalobos was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for his role in a bribery and extortion scheme.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, jurors in Villalobos’ trial found that he solicited and accepted over $100,000 in bribes and kickbacks in the form of cash and campaign contributions in return for favorable acts of prosecutorial discretion.
In his first emergency request filed April 14, 2020, Villalobos requested his sentence be reduced and he be released due to the risks posed by the coronavirus. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. denied the request on April 24.
On April 28 Villalobos filed another emergency motion for release to home confinement four days after his first motion for release was denied, court documents reflect.
Villalobos’ projected release from federal custody is June 18, 2025.
