Federal agents have arrested two senior officials in a border city for soliciting cash bribes from business owners.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Mayor Victor Hugo de la Cruz and City Councilman Rene Flores in Edcouch, Texas, on Thursday morning, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The arrests came after a federal grand jury handed down a four-count indictment on various bribery charges against the men on Sept. 2. The two city officials are scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge J. Scott Hacker on Friday morning.
According to federal prosecutors, between June and September 2019, the two city officials solicited bribes from the owner of a Brownsville marketing company. Prosecutors allege the company owner accepted two $3,000 payments from the city of Ed Couch for marketing work and then paid two $1,000 bribes to the city officials.
The arrests come nearly a year after federal authorities raided Ed Couch City Hall in October 2023. In the same operation, authorities also searched the city hall of the neighboring city of Elsevier. Details of the raids are unclear, but local media outlets have claimed the incident was linked to an 8-liner business in the area.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist at Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. Twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
