Its a system that has matured over 71 years of one-party rule, and one that works especially well for drug lords and other criminals. Emailus. Every day, the Herreras made pleas to the Chihuahua prosecutors, to the media, to Jesus Christ himself. For him, the bust was an unfortunate necessity that put a halt to their goals of a much larger bust of key players. The longer officials remained mute, the louder the protests became. Presidio, though, is hardly immune to the lucrative border business. http://hyper-reach.com/txpresidiosignup.html, Presidio County Courthouse __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX metropolitan statistical area.It is the 16th-most populous county in the nation and the fourth-most . Deputies with the Presidio County Sheriff's Office found and assisted individuals injured during the crash. The pilot attempted to smuggle illegal immigrants from Presidio by air. Want to Buy a West Texas Ghost Town? J.NUEZ - 501. That alone, she says, might have mitigated against a life sentence. There are no windows in this place. March 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Provided by Presidio County Sheriff's Office. Theres something., On paper Mexico has strong criminal laws, including a detailed constitution that grants its citizens civil rights that are similar to what Americans possess in the United States. Its difficult, I know, he told Herrera. In Presidio residents could barely contain their anger. The indignation perhaps was deeper in the southern border town since the stakes there were arguably higher: Mexicans live this reality every day. The court specifically pointed out in a footnote that Peters was warned he faces up to two decades behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000. Baca Magaa believes that it was prepared only after the state discovered the mismatch in names, then slipped into Herreras file. Recently he had reported that the fugitive drug trafficker Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn, allegedly the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, might be hiding out near Ojinaga. of the long-awaited restoration of the Clement El Presidio Fountain is expected later this summer, according to City of Tucson officials. While the police in the cities and towns in Presidio County can arrest and detain offenders, the Presidio County Jail & Sheriff is the facility that is accredited by Texas to hold . How to find us. The police swarmed around Herreras 1955 Chevy Bel Air; Herrera, as usual, offered his hand. A 46-year-old Texas pilot pleaded guilty late last week to a federal crime in connection with a Dec. 30, 2021, plane crash that exposed his attempted smuggling of five undocumented immigrants. 432-729-4308 | P.O. . Social life and even family life here was profoundly international: Often, ones mother, best friend, or significant other lived on the opposite side of a tollbooth. The Presidio County Sheriff's Office county jail, as of now, houses not more than 25 inmates. Free Junie. Junie Is Innocent. Justice for Junie. People mobilized on both sides of the river to raise money for Herreras legal fund, and when reporters arrived from the Dallas Morning News, the New York Times, and Telemundo, they articulated their rage and posed for cameras with yellow ribbons, T-shirts, and posters. CountyOffice.org does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You have to have courage because I dont want you getting sick, she says in her raspy voice, making two fists with her hands. He also was the first to question the close relationship Chambers had with Thompson. Rogers is also a current member of the Board of Directors at Marfa Public Radio. On Thursday, July 12, those who attended the Rosary of Liberation tacked on a word to their prayer: Jesus, free Junie tomorrow. Friday, July 13, was the longest day the Herreras will ever remember. Now 73, he lives in Midland, Texas with his wife, and remains close to his two sons and daughter. To residents of Presidio and Ojinaga, the international border that separated them had always seemed irrelevant. The governments sole witness, a heroin addict and prostitute who habitually robbed her clients, was in jail for theft the day she said she saw Herrera shoot the journalist. Although he has a thirteen-year-old daughter with whom he is very close, he has never married (her mother lives in Presidio and has married). Hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. (CBS7 (KOSA)) MARFA, Texas (KOSA) - Update . Cloudflare Ray ID: 7b9d0dfb9d5c7692 Marfa, TX 79843, How to reach us. View map of Presidio County Sheriff's Office, and get driving directions from your location. I do.. The Presidio County Sheriff's Office, located in Marfa, Texas, is a law enforcement agency that promotes public safety in Presidio County through public policing and the management of county jails and inmates. He has properties in Seminole, Texas but sometimes travels to Ojinaga, Mexico, across the border from Presidio. Mexican president Vicente Foxs vision, as he has told his Cabinet, is more explicit: Punch as many holes in it as you can. The next day, the then sheriff of Presidio County, Rick Thompson, parked a horse trailer at the County Fairgrounds in Marfa. According to the law, prosecutors carry the burden of proving a suspects guilt. 300 Highland St. His mother said they incurred between $100,000 and $120,000 in expenses. Garca Gmez had quietly withstood Baca Magaas piercing remarks that afternoon, but then his patience broke. 320 N. Highland Avenue Marfa, Texas 79843. . Court documents show that Peters pleaded guilty to violating 8 U.S.C. Presidio County Sheriff Secretary Shanna Elmore chimed in to voice her support for a longevity pay system after a brief discussion on whether incentives should be based on cumulative service to the county for employees who leave their positions and come back or consecutive years of service. "I do feel that consideration of longevity . He said that he had kept her informed of the prosecutions maneuvers even before she took the case and that she had already decided that it was nonsense. Jurado Contreras delivered her decision in roughly a week. Many people felt that no matter that hed plead guilty, life is too much. Thompson initially denied the charge, saying he was merely transporting cocaine seized in a narcotics investigation. On March 25, the Presidio County Sheriff's Office arrested Tobias Penner Peters of Seminole, Texas, on multiple charges, including three counts of human smuggling, one count of evading arrest, and one count of deadly conduct. Federal agents and others had learned that his nickname in Mexico was La Puerta, the door to smuggling. The people of Presidio and Ojinaga were aware that they lived on the edges of their two countries, but except for bureaucratic nuisances like paying taxes or electing some distant government leader, here the Rio Grande had always seemed irrelevant. We thought it was the same thing to be here or over there in Presidio, but then you find out its a whole other ball game, Herrera said one July afternoon in a sweltering Ojinaga jail just three miles from his American home. It was yet another layer of silence in the Mexican justice system. You have to remind yourself it was in the early days of the war on drugs where everybody believed you could send a strong message and make drugs not be prevalent in American life.". But Herrera finally buckled down last February, when he borrowed $250,000 to buy out his uncles share of the store. The suspect attacked the sheriff when the sheriff found out he was a bracero and threatened to turn him over to the INS. Baca Magaa decided to place his bets on the Chihuahua Supreme Court. But on the opposite riverbank, Ojinaga is basted with color and people30,000 of them. Rogers notes that Rick Thompson was a first time offender. Judge Estrada Rascn, who appeared jittery during court proceedings and avoided eye contact with reporters, insisted that he had made his decision on his own. It suits him well as an attorney. Hey, Junie, how are you? one of them begins in big, awkward print. The arrest ended a three-month long manhunt after Peters crashed a plane with undocumented migrants onboard just past the Presidio-Lely Airport on December 30. When asked if its true that he has represented some of Chihuahuas most notorious narcotraffickers, he gave a lawyerly response: Well, they were accused, but nobody proved anything. But then he started ticking off names of his other clients, including the infamous drug lord Amado Carillo Fuentes, Pablo Acostas successor and the so-called Lord of the Skies, who died mysteriously in 1997 while undergoing plastic surgery. While Peters escaped, he probably didnt walk away unscathed, according to the sheriffs office. Then, at about four-thirty, Baca Magaas son burst into the office from the municipal compound and told Herrera, Youve got your freedom. Twenty minutes later, a court clerk walked in with a faxed copy of the judges order to let Herrera go. Some of the illegal immigrants were transported to hospitals in El Paso and others were detained by U.S. Border Patrol. The Presidio County Sheriff Office - Annex, located in Presidio, Texas, is a law enforcement agency that promotes public safety in Presidio County through public policing and the management of county jails and inmates. Herrera was an immensely popular figure, a prominent, highly visible citizen with hundreds of friends on both sides of the border. MARFA A Texas nonprofit is suing Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez after the group says it struggled to get timely records on who he was keeping in the county jail. Your IP: Hes innocent.. There were odd circumstances in Ortegas personal life too that suggested other motives. The staff in charge of the jail facility are 9 jailers. If Herreraa symbol of the easy cohabitation of the two citiescould be thrown in jail for no reason, who was safe? McNamara reported extensively on Sheriff Thompsons role in the multi-county drug task force that spent an enormous amount of money producing minor drug busts. As his astounded family and friends soon discovered, Herrera had been arrested for the February 19 murder of Jos Luis Ortega Mata, the 37-year-old editor of the weekly newspaper El Semanario de Ojinaga. Stage presence 101, Search is on for WWII shipwreck that poses environmental dangers off Florida coast, Dont wear blue: Moms swim safety tip goes viral on TikTok. Federal authorities said he turned himself in at the Presidio Port of Entry. If you have any information on this or other illegal activities please contact the Presidio County Sheriffs Office 432-729-4848. Arturo Gonzlez Rascn, the current attorney general, has a long list of unsolved high-profile cases: the attempted assassination of Governor Patricio Martnez Garca, the slaying of dozens of maquiladora women in Ciudad Jurez, and most recently, the murder of two family members of the forensic scientist who was studying the womens killings. While he maintained deep affection for his southern neighbors, who made up the majority of his clientele and who showered him with support during his imprisonment, he wondered whether he could ever step back into Mexico without fear or cynicism. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. While Presidio is known as the hottest place in Texasthe temperature routinely exceeds 110 degrees in the summer Ojinagas claim to fame is more dubious. Look, he shot at Baca Magaa with a long, knowing stare, so you wont break your head, you know where this is coming from. The room was dead silent as three people waited for his revelatory words. Baca Magaa worried, though, that the following Friday, July 13, the court system would shut down for a two-week vacation. Throughout his twenties and thirties, Herrera helped around the H&H Supermarket, which his father then owned with Junies uncle, and cashed in bags of coins he collected from a small car wash he had bought. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. They held nothing against the people of Ojinaga. An old schoolmate of Herreras brother-in-law, he took on Junies case after the family fired its first attorney. McNamara often battled to obtain public records from officials and sued the U.S. Department of Justice in federal court in an attempt to acquire records in the Thompson case. ORDER Out in the torrid Chihuahuan Desert in a place fittingly called Pista Caliente, or Hot Track, men from both sides of the Rio Grande raced each other monthly on a skinny, two-lane asphalt track. It was a messy job to disentangle their personal loyalties from their newfound distrust of the Mexican government. How to reach us. In just a few minutes the big SUV approached the narrow bridge that links the two towns, and Herrera now says that he was overcome when the U.S. Customs agent asked him for his nationality. Chely was beginning to shed her anger by the time dozens of friends poured in to see Junie the weekend after his release, but her older sister, Marta, was still furious. Presidio County Sheriff's Office January 2021. With so much drug trafficking and death, the attorney general for the state of Chihuahua, which makes up fully one eighth of Mexico, has a big job. You do. Sixty-six days after Herreras arrest, his family is fed up. Next to it, he has barely fit a small wooden table where he keeps his cigarettes, dental floss, and a pack of Breath Savers. Third party advertisements support hosting, listing verification, updates, and site maintenance. 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