I never said she was ‘corrupt’

By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal

Two weeks ago, I wrote an opinion column (Observations, front page, April 24) about the 20-year sentence handed down by Federal Judge Micaela Alvarez to former Precinct 1 Hidalgo County Commissioner A.C. Cuellar, and I mentioned that in my humble opinion, I thought the sentence was unjust, especially given the fact that Cuellar was 69 when sentenced. By the time he finishes his prison sentence, followed by 10 years stuck in the parole system, he’ll be about 97 when all is said and done.

In that column, I compared Cuellar’s sentence to that of a woman caught trying to smuggle 36 assault-style weapons, ammo into Mexico. At her home, federal agents found almost 18 ounces of cocaine and $13,000 in U.S. currency. After pleading guilty to all the felony counts to which she stood accused, Judge Alvarez sentenced her to 46 months, while letting the 33-year-old woman walk free from the courthouse, allowing her to turn herself into U.S. Marshals at a later date.

Sweet.

Cuellar, on the other hand, was taken into immediate custody after his sentencing, despite his attorney telling the judge that his client needed to attend to a medical issue. Instead, the Bureau of Prisons would have to take care of his medical needs, because even though Cuellar had been free for approximately three years while the case made it to trial, had never missed a court hearing, he was suddenly a flight risk?

Don’t think so.

As mentioned in that April 24 column, federal prosecutors and the FBI claimed that Cuellar took bribes worth $1.4 million spread out across 7.5 years and then funneled some of the money to his nephew, John Cuellar, a Weslaco city commissioner at the time, and another commissioner, Gerardo Tafolla, to award contracts worth approximately $39 million to two engineering firms, neither of which has ever been charged with any crime. At the time, the work had to do with rehabilitating Weslaco’s water treatment facilities.

Didn’t Say Corrupt

After the April 24th column was published, someone close to A.C. Cuellar posted it on Facebook. By May 2, Facebook had removed the opinion column from its platform.

The removal included this message: “Your content goes against our Community Standards on cybersecurity.”

Then I read what was written above my column about A.C.’s 20-year sentence, and I could see what the problem may have been.

Part of the comments written above the link to the April 24th column included this sentence: “There are murderers/predators getting less a sentence. Twenty years might as well have been a life sentence given by that crooked judge.”

I understand that people can become passionate about a prison sentence that they deem unjust, such as the one handed down by Judge Alvarez to A.C. Cuellar, but that doesn’t make her corrupt.

So, I’m pretty sure that’s why Facebook took down the column published in The Advance April 24th. Someone complained, and the social-media giant agreed with the complaint — it goes against its community standards. Or maybe FB just saw the word “corrupt” and removed it on its own. No way of knowing.

Even though I don’t agree with the 20-year sentence, I don’t think Judge Alvarez is corrupt. The attorneys I know who have argued cases in her court say basically the same thing – she’s a fair judge. I’ve never heard the word “corrupt” attached to her name, and why would it? Federal judges are appointed for life. They don’t have to campaign for office, which is where one usually finds corruption.

Still, there are some actions taken by some appointed judges that make you look twice. Like the news that came out last year that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas took multiple paid-for luxury vacations courtesy of Texas real-estate tycoon Harlan Crow, who had a stake in four cases pending before the Supreme Court. Yet, Thomas didn’t recuse himself from those cases.

The billionaire also bought the house in which Thomas’s mother lives, and he paid for the boarding-school tuition for one of Thomas’s grandnephews to the tune of $6,000 per month. (Source: ProPublica.org). The relationship between the two covers several decades.

Now that sort of behavior, which Thomas never disclosed, will make some people toss around the word “corrupt,” but you’ll be hard pressed to find a legit news outlet that will actually use the word. Let readers decide for themselves what they think of the relationship.

With regard to Judge Micaela Alvarez, however, even though she did sue Cuellar’s company for an auto accident six or seven years prior to his sentencing and didn’t get anywhere near the money she was seeking, the decision on whether or not to recuse herself from the case, was her own to make. She chose not to recuse, but that doesn’t make her corrupt.

Alvarez, 65, a Donna native, is a UT-Austin grad and a UT Law School grad, class of 1989. She was in private practice in McAllen for 13 years before George W. Bush nominated her, a Republican, to the federal bench in 2004. She assumed senior status last June, which means Judge Alvarez is now basically semi-retired but earning the same salary and benefits as a full-time jurist.

Fentanyl Sentence

In addition to the woman sentenced to 46 months in the fed pen in April 2024 for the arms/ammo/ cocaine charges mentioned at the top of this column, Judge Alvarez sentenced a 43-year-old Mexican-national defendant to 108 months (nine years) in prison for a conspiracy to import 28 pounds of fentanyl into the U.S. That sentence was handed down in February 2023. He is expected to be deported after finishing his sentence.

So again, if you compare a nine-year sentence handed down to a 43-year-old man, who was in this country illegally, for conspiracy to import nine pounds of fentanyl, which was responsible for the deaths of 73,654 Americans in 2022, more than double the amount of deaths only three years prior, it does make one question the 20-year sentence handed down to 69-year-old A.C. Cuellar, convicted of accepting $1.4 million over a 7.5-year period.

Like I mentioned in the April 24th opinion column, in Judge Alvarez’s courtroom in the U.S. Southern District of Texas, drug dealers seem to get a sweeter deal than that of a white-collar defendant. Maybe that’s an unfair assessment, but that’s the way I see it without reviewing her entire docket history.

Sure, federal sentencing guidelines play a part, but judges don’t have to line up in sync with them. And I’m not even going to write about the fact that Judge Alvarez denied a man’s motion for compassionate release from prison two years ago. He had Stage IV cancer that had metastasized and was told he had approximately 18 months left to live. He had been sentenced to 151 months for his role in a cocaine conspiracy. According to Judge Alvarez, the man was receiving “medical care for his illness at the Bureau of Prisons.”

Motion for compassionate release denied.

Meanwhile, Cuellar’s appeal is still pending before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and is expected to be heard (oral arguments) sometime this month.