McALLEN — A certified nurses assistant who previously worked at the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa has pleaded guilty to bribery.
(Dina Arévalo | [email protected])
Veronica Ortega, 45, of McAllen, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public official during a re-arraignment hearing at the McAllen federal courthouse Tuesday afternoon. With her plea, Ortega becomes the seventh and final former employee of the federal prison to plead guilty in a related string of 2019 and 2020 indictments.
Ortega admitted to accepting cash in exchange for smuggling marijuana into the prison between April and May 19, 2019.
“A federal inmate’s family member provided contraband, that is marijuana” to Ortega, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy L. Greenbaum said, reading from a statement of facts in relation to the plea.
Ortega then hid the marijuana “on her person” before delivering it to the inmate under the guise of administering the inmate medication, Greenbaum said.
In November 2019, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced the arrest and indictment of six former staffers of the prison, which is privately owned by the GEO Group and which houses prisoners on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ortega, along with four others, were arrested Nov. 26, 2019 on charges of bribery of a public official. The group included several correctional officers, as well as a commissary staffer.
A second commissary staffer, Brenda Alicia Fuentes — who worked as a cook supervisor — was charged with sex abuse of an inmate on the same day as the others.
Several months later — on March 10, 2020 — a grand jury handed up an indictment of bribery of a public official against Fuentes’ daughter, Amber Marie Estrada.
With her change in plea Tuesday, Ortega became the last of the group of seven former prison officials to plead guilty to the charges against her.
In exchange, prosecutors have agreed to recommend lowering the offense by two levels under the federal sentencing guidelines. Nonetheless, Ortega faces up to 15 years in prison and up to three years of supervised release.
“You are facing up to 15 years of prison time. Do you understand that?” U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez asked Ortega during the re-arraignment hearing.
As Ortega answered yes, a visibly upset young woman ran out of the courtroom.
Alvarez set Ortega’s sentencing hearing for 2 p.m. Sept. 16.
Former correctional officers Jhaziel Loredo, 34, of Progreso; Erasmo Loya, 56, of La Villa; Domingo Gonzalez Hernandez, 27, of Mercedes; and Estrada, 22, have since also pleaded guilty to bribery.
On Feb. 23, Gonzalez Hernandez was sentenced to six months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
Estrada — Fuentes’ daughter — was sentenced April 15 to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Meanwhile, Loredo, who pleaded guilty in March 2020, was sentenced in December 2020 to 28 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Loya pleaded guilty to a bribery charge outlined in a “criminal information” in June. His sentencing is set for Aug. 10.
Jayson Catalan, 38, a former commissary officer, pleaded guilty to bribery in March 2020. His sentencing is set for Aug. 18.
And finally, Fuentes, who pleaded guilty to sex abuse of a prisoner in May 2020, has appealed her sentence of one year and one day in federal prison to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In particular, Fuentes is appealing the portion of her sentence which will require her to register as a sex offender upon her release from prison.
