McALLEN — A former correctional officer at the East Hidalgo Detention Center was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for smuggling contraband into the La Villa prison.
Erasmo Eduardo Loya, 56, of Edcouch, received the 18-month sentence during a hearing in McAllen federal court Tuesday afternoon.
The sentence comes two months after Loya pleaded guilty to “criminal information” in which he admitted to smuggling food, marijuana and cocaine to Erick Alan Torres Davila, an inmate housed at the prison who is himself awaiting sentencing for drug smuggling.
According to federal prosecutors, Loya smuggled contraband into the prison over a period of more than two years — from about November 2016 to 2019.
It started off with small items, such as food, before escalating to marijuana and then cocaine, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Greenbaum said Tuesday of the man who had worked his way up from prison housekeeper to correctional officer.
“The defendant initially admitted to being confronted several times by these inmates,” Greenbaum said, explaining that Loya had at first rebuffed entreaties to bring inmates contraband.
But ultimately, Loya became “more confident that he wasn’t going to be caught,” Greenbaum said, calling his actions “very serious.”
As a result of the “very serious” nature of the crime, the government sought an upward departure from the federal sentencing guidelines, in essence, asking the judge to sentence Loya to the maximum time allowable under the law.
But Loya’s defense attorney, Sergio J. Sanchez, pleaded with the judge to consider Loya’s family, including two older children and a 6-year-old stepchild he has raised since infancy.
Sanchez also touted how Loya has maintained employment at a local hospital since his arrest.
“His job is gonna be waiting for him,” Sanchez said.
Loya himself asked for leniency.
“I would say if I could stay out so I could support my family,” Loya said when given an opportunity to speak.
But U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez remained unconvinced.
Known for taking a harder line against public officials who abuse their positions of authority, Alvarez reminded Loya of the higher standard both they and law enforcement officers must maintain in following the law.
“I am always troubled when I have somebody … that decides they do not have to follow the law,” Alvarez said before sharing broad examples of other public officials, such as judges, who have been convicted of crimes.
“I am of the firm opinion, Mr. Loya, that those people should set a better example than anybody else,” she said.
Alvarez sentenced Loya to 18 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. She allowed the man to remain out on bond pending his receipt of a surrender date from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Loya now becomes the fourth person to be sentenced for bribery out of six former prison employees who were charged in sequential indictments in November 2019.
Former correctional officers Jhaziel Loredo, 34, of Progreso, and Domingo Gonzalez Hernandez, 27, of Mercedes, also pleaded guilty to bribery in March and May 2020, respectively.
Among the bribes Gonzalez Hernandez admitted to accepting was a Chevrolet pickup truck, according to the indictment. And Loredo admitted to smuggling drugs into the facility, including Xanax and marijuana.
Loredo was sentenced to 28 months in prison, while Gonzalez Hernandez was sentenced to six months.
Both men will then be under supervised release for three years.
Another former staffer, Brenda Alicia Fuentes, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after she pleaded guilty to performing oral sex on an inmate.
Fuentes has since appealed the portion of her sentence that will require her to register as a sex offender upon her release from prison.
Two other defendants arrested in the sweep — former commissary worker Jayson Catalan and Veronica Ortega, who worked at the prison as a certified medical assistant — await sentencing later this year.
Less than four months after the six prison staffers were arrested in late 2019, prosecutors announced the arrest of a seventh person.
Amber Marie Estrada — Fuentes’ daughter — was arrested in March 2020.
Last January, the former correctional officer pleaded guilty to accepting bribes — including a horse — in exchange for smuggling contraband into the prison.
On April 15, Estrada was sentenced to 27 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Meanwhile, as Loya received his sentence Tuesday, the man for whom he smuggled contraband into the prison still awaits sentencing himself. Torres Davila was arrested in late November 2016 and charged with several counts of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, including cocaine, according to the indictment against him.
He was among nearly two dozen men and women charged in the drug smuggling case five years ago. Though he pleaded guilty in April 2018, his sentencing date has been reset numerous times.
Torres Davila has remained in custody while he waits. Court records show he is set to be sentenced Sept. 29.
