Federal authorities have charged a third suspect in an alleged scheme where a correctional officer at the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa took a bribe to smuggle a cellphone to an inmate at the federal jail.
The indictment, which was returned in late June, charges Sixto Gonzalez Jr. with promising money to a jailer for smuggling a cellphone.
Gonzalez is a federal inmate who is facing a separate indictment charging him with hostage taking.
He has been held on that charge since November 2021 and has been in federal custody since 2019 after being charged with attempting to smuggle people through the Sarita checkpoint, for which he was convicted.
Gonzalez is charged along with Abel Angel Solis and Jose Martin Espinoza Jr., the jailer.
The first account charges Espinoza with accepting a bribe in return for bringing contraband into the correctional facility and distributing it to an inmate while both Solis and Gonzalez are charged in the second count with promising Espinoza money.
Gonzalez waived his arraignment last week.
He and Solis are being held without bond while Espinoza is currently free on a $30,000 bond.
