Sleazy?: Starr County Attorney Busted
After the DOJ sent out a press release last week about the sentencing of former elected Starr CountyAttorney Victor Canales, Jr., 51, I called a law enforcement investigator who often worked Starr, the county in the RGV with the most elected officials run afoul of the law:
“Hey, man. When you were working in Starr County, did you run into County Attorney Victor Canales?”
“Yeah. Several times.”
What did you think of him?
“Sleazy.”
Maybe that explains why Canales, Jr., has now been sentenced to serve 37 months for accepting bribes in the amount of $44,000.
Which begs the question — if you’re going to accept bribes, are you going to risk federal prison time for such a small amount relative to your sentence?
I’ve often said, if I was ever elected to office and turned dirty, tossed my ethical code into the trash bin, failed my constituents, how much would it be worth?
Personally, I always thought a million might do it. Make it three because part of the deal would include fleeing to a country that has no extradition treaty with the U.S.
Fun, exotic destinations like Russia, China, North Korea, not to mention parts of Africa, currently run by war lords, but with the freedom to stretch your legs. If you like the desert sun, there is Saudi Arabia, or maybe Yemen.
Not sure why, but Starr County has a problem holding on to honest elected officials. In the old days, that wasn’t a problem. The people in power, not all, but too many, or so it seemed, protected those in power with enough cover to not only break bad, but stay in office. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.
Then the feds showed up en masse down here in the early 2000s, and there went Starr County’s protection from the law.
In this new century, not counting those still under investigation, a Starr County jailer was found guilty of a weapons violation, a former sheriff was sentenced to prison for providing cover for a Mexican drug cartel, a female deputy sheriff and her brother pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute approximately 70 pounds of weed, a former county JP was sent to prison for doing favors for a drug-trafficking organization.
Hidalgo County isn’t completely clean, but if you exclude the infamous Panama Unit, and okay, at least one other sheriff who jumped into bed with drug traffickers, then by comparison, this county still underperforms Starr when it comes to drugs and corruption.
Oh, well, one would think that public officials west of us would take notice of these federal charges, convictions, and turn away from graft and corruption, but still, people like Canales, Jr. continue to pop up.
From the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas:
McALLEN – The former elected Starr County Attorney has been sentenced for extortion under color of law, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. (Oct. 29, 2024)
Victor Canales Jr., 51, pleaded guilty Sept. 5, 2023.
Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Canales to serve 37 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard testimony from an auditor with the Texas Attorney General’s Office describing the cash deposits made into Canales’s personal accounts and his use of funds from the Starr County Attorney’s account.
In imposing the sentence, the court determined the amount of the bribes at $44,000. The court also noted comments about the culture of corruption in Starr County and said today’s sentence would act as a deterrent to that corruption.
“Prosecutors of all stripes, whether at the federal, state or city level, are defined by an oath, one to serve and protect their communities. It’s an oath that seeks only one thing—justice,” said Hamdani. “Victor Canales Jr. violated that oath and the trust of Starr County’s residents in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in bribes. As an office of dedicated public servants, including 200 prosecutors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District has little patience for corrupt officials, especially when a prosecutor trades his authority, his oath, for personal gain.”
There was more to the press release:
“Today’s sentencing highlights the FBI’s commitment to combat public corruption at every level. Citizens in the Rio Grande Valley deserve local government officials who can be trusted,” said Special Agent in Charge Aaron Tapp of the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office. “The FBI would like to thank our Operation Ice River partners at the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as Texas Office of the Attorney General, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Texas Department of Public Safety - Texas Rangers for their continued collaboration in rooting out corruption and keeping our communities safe.”
Canales was the Starr County Attorney from 2005 to 2022. In that role, he was responsible for prosecuting misdemeanor crimes.
In September 2021, a woman reached out to Canales for assistance because her son had been charged with three misdemeanor offenses in Starr County. He said he could help her and that for $1500, he could take care of the Starr County tickets.
The mother gave Canales three money orders totaling $1500. He deposited the proceeds into his own checking account and used it for his own personal needs rather than depositing the monies into the Starr County account.
Canales then sent a series of letters to Cameron County indicating the three charges against the woman’s son would be dropped.
Canales was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The FBI worked in partnership with the Texas Attorney General’s Office to conduct the Border Corruption Task Force investigation with the assistance of Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Texas Department of Public Safety - Criminal Investigations and Texas Rangers.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Cook Profit prosecuted the case.