Two prominent border city officials have been arrested by federal agents, who accuse them of demanding cash bribes from a business owner. The U.S. Attorney’s Office shared information with Breitbart Texas that on the morning of Thursday, September 2 in Edcouch, Texas, FBI agents apprehended City Manager Victor Hugo De La Cruz and City Councilman Rene Flores. This arrest transpired following a Federal Grand Jury issuing a four-count indictment accusing them of various bribery charges on the same day. The two city officials are anticipated to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker on Friday morning.
As per federal prosecutors, from June to September 2019, De La Cruz and Flores demanded bribe payments from the owner of a marketing company based in Brownsville. Prosecutors claim that the businessman received two separate $3,000 payments for marketing work from the City of Edcouch, and he allegedly made two kickback payments of $1,000 each to the city officials.
The arrests occurred almost a year after federal authorities raided the Edcouch City Hall in October 2023. During the same operation, authorities also searched the city hall of the neighboring city of Elsa. Details surrounding the raids remain unclear; however, local news outlets reported that the case was linked to 8-liner businesses operating within the area.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist working with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project alongside Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].