MCALLEN, Texas — In an effort to clean up the image of corruption in law enforcement, a Texas border sheriff has cut ties with the civilian run Crime Stoppers program after its integrity continuously came into question.
Along the Texas border, the Crime Stoppers program is a civilian-run partnership that raises funds to pay rewards for anonymous tips that are called in to law enforcement. Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said he was separating his department from Crime Stoppers after a thorough review of all of the departments in his office.
The sheriff’s office will continue to take calls to the tip-line and through their main number.
Guerra took office as an interim sheriff in early 2014 when, as previously reported by Breitbart Texas, long time Sheriff Lupe Trevino resigned and was later arrested in a corruption investigation for taking money from a drug cartel member. Trevino who is now serving a five year prison sentence was the last arrest following almost two years of scandals dealing with various conspiracies. They including the takedown of the Crime Stoppers coordinator and various members of a drug unit tied to the theft of narcotics.
In that case, former Deputy J.P. Flores ran the program but he used his position to coordinate the theft of drugs which he sold to a local drug dealer, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas show.
The Crime Stoppers board also was mentioned in court records when federal authorities arrested Julio Armando “Nandy” Daliva, a convicted drug trafficker who has been linked to most of the major corruption conspiracies in Hidalgo County. Davila used to be a member of the crime stoppers board.
The most recent incident with Crime Stoppers came when Donna Police arrested board member Rene Tamez on a misdemeanor drug charge, he has since been released.
After winning the November election, Guerra told Breitbart Texas that he would work on restoring the image of the sheriff’s office.