Gerald Hanks
A Texas police officer who had campaigned on a platform of ridding the area of drug dealers has been arrested and charged with working for one of the major Mexican drug cartels. Federal agents arrested Geovani Hernandez, a police sergeant in the south Texas town of Progreso. Prosecutors allege that Hernandez used money from a drug cartel to fund his political ambitions.
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According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, “Hernandez agree(d) to provide protection for a vehicle he believed contained a controlled substance through the Progreso area.” Prosecutors allege that Hernandez received $5,000 for allowing the drug runners safe passage through his jurisdiction.
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A twenty-year veteran of local law enforcement, Hernandez had worked with six different departments. He had also campaigned for Hidalgo County Sheriff in 2012 and 2014, but lost both times. He campaigned on taking a tough stance against the drug runners. During one debate, he claimed that the area was “infested with drug cartel members” and that he could clean up the county if elected.
According to recordings made by confidential informants working for federal prosecutors, Hernandez wanted to use the money he received from the cartel to fund his political campaigns. Transcripts from the recordings also revealed that Hernandez bragged about his close relationship with a Gulf Coast cartel boss who had been killed in a shoot out with Mexican police.
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Hernandez was charged with aiding and abetting, attempt to posses with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and possession with attempt to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. A federal judge set his bail at $100,000.
Last year, Hernandez appeared in a music video for the song “6,000 Kilos,” a “narcocorrido” song that glorifies the cartels. His role: a corrupt cop.
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