The daughter of a Mexican border city politician is currently in U.S. custody awaiting trial after authorities reportedly found one brick of cocaine in her vehicle.
This week, Nallely Villarreal went before U.S, Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya for a detention hearing where he granted her release upon the posting of a $50,000 bond, court documents revealed. Villarreal is expected to be released shortly.
The case against Villarreal began on March 12, when a Texas state trooper pulled her over for running a stoplight in Brownsville, court documents revealed. The trooper noted that Villarreal appeared very nervous during the stop and asked for permission to search the vehicle. The trooper reportedly found a cocaine brick weighing a little over a kilogram under the driver’s seat.
During a subsequent interview with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Villarreal told authorities that she was supposed to drive to a local gas station for payment.
Villarreal is the daughter of Matamoros City Commissioner Rosy Perez and represents Mexico’s ruling party, MORENA. The arrest of her daughter caused controversy due to Perez’s high profile. The politician has been an ardent supporter of MORENA and is a close ally of some top politicians in Mexico.
In a social media post, Perez advocated for her daughter’s innocence, claiming “nobody is guilty unless proven otherwise.” In that same post, Perez tried to hint about the scandal caused by her daughter by claiming that “It is not possible to speak and give news without the support of something that is unknown … to do so would be to give false information.”
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.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.