A former county prosecutor in Starr County, Texas, pleaded guilty to federal extortion charges. The former prosecutor admitted to taking money from a woman to have multiple charges dismissed.
On Tuesday afternoon, former Starr County Attorney Victor Canales went before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa at the U.S. Southern District of Texas courthouse in McAllen, Texas, where he pleaded guilty to one count of extortion. Federal prosecutors dismissed eight other charges against him as part of a plea agreement. Hinojosa set a sentencing hearing for Canales on December 15 and allowed him to remain free on bond until the hearing. Canales faces a potential prison sentence of 20 years.
As Breitbart Texas reported, federal authorities arrested Canales in April, almost one year after he resigned from his position. At the time of the arrest, authorities obtained a nine-count indictment against Canales, accusing him of extortion under color of law, extortion, and theft.
Canales had worked for over 15 years as the Starr County Attorney before leaving his post in April 2022. During his tenure, he represented the county in civil matters and was in charge of prosecuting misdemeanor crimes in the county court at law.
According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, in September 2021, a woman asked Canales for help after authorities charged her son with three misdemeanor offenses. At the time, Canales told her he could help her for $1,500 and make the charges go away. The woman gave Canales three money orders for the total amount. Canales then deposited the money orders into his personal checking account instead of the county’s bank account. Prosecutors pointed to Canales asking for cash or money orders in similar cases.
The case against Canales is reportedly tied to a large-scale drug trafficking investigation called ICE-River. So far, authorities have arrested dozens of cartel-connected drug traffickers in that operation. The connection between Canales and the drug traffickers remains unclear.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.