A former border county prosecutor in Texas will spend more than three years in federal prison for having demanded money from a woman to dismiss misdemeanor charges against her son. New information points to the prosecutor having taken more money than initially believed.
This week, 51-year-old Victor Canales Jr. went before Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas. Judge Crane sentenced Canales to 37 months in federal prison for the extortion conviction. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Canales pleaded guilty to the extortion charge in September 2023 as part of a deal in which federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss eight other charges, including theft and extortion under the color of law.
According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, at the time of the sentencing, it was determined that Canales had taken more than $44,000 in illicit funds and bribes — much higher than the $1,500 he originally pleaded guilty to taking.
Canales served as the elected Starr County Attorney from 2005 to 2022. As such, he was tasked with prosecuting misdemeanor crimes and handling the county’s civil matters.
In September 2021, a woman spoke with Canales about three misdemeanor charges from a Texas DPS arrest that had been filed against her son, which would prevent him from getting into a trial diversion program in another county on an unrelated charge. As part of his plea, Canales admitted to having taken $1,500 from the woman to help dismiss the cases against her son and notify the other county so he could participate in the program. The woman gave him the money in three money orders that Canales deposited into his personal checking account, not the county’s bank account.
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.