Emailus. The Presidio County Sheriff's Office, located in Marfa, Texas, is a law enforcement agency that promotes public safety in Presidio County through public policing and the management of county jails and inmates. Ponton had to retrieve his attorney fees for Chambers defense by traveling to Juarez to pick up $100,000 in cash, which caused a considerable stir at the border when he re-entered the U.S. Now County Attorney for Presidio County, Ponton was featured in the recent Netflix documentary, Confession Killer, for his role in proving that alleged serial killer Henry Lee Lucas could not be responsible for most of the murders he confessed to. If you have any information on this or any other illegal activity in Presidio County, please contact the Presidio County Sheriff's Office at 432-729-4848 or 432-729-4911. While the podcast features numerous sources, here are a few of the main players in the story. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. It was Junie who introduced people from both sides of the border to one another at annual Super Bowl parties in his home, Junie who could persuade a group of men aged eighteen to seventy to buy a lottery ticket together. It was three-thirty, then four. Hug your cousin! Junie Herrera looks only briefly confused when he turns to me. But he would not say what, in his view, incriminated Herrera enough to hold him for trial. He likely suffered serious head trauma and may have also lost one of his eyes. 300 Highland St. 432-729-4308 | P.O. The Astrodomes Decline From Eighth Wonder to Eighth Blunder of the World, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Best Little Steakhouse in Texas Turns Forty, A Backsliding Joint Got New Owners and a Whole New Level of Barbecue, Miranda Lamberts Five Must-have Home Goods, A Fredericksburg Couple Forges a New Path With Their Cast-Iron Pans, Another, Quieter Comeback for Billy Gillispie. Stage presence 101, Search is on for WWII shipwreck that poses environmental dangers off Florida coast, Dont wear blue: Moms swim safety tip goes viral on TikTok. To the racing club, and to almost everyone else in Presidio and Ojinaga, the charges were preposterous. The course, though held in Marfa, is a regional affair. Baca Magaa believes that it was prepared only after the state discovered the mismatch in names, then slipped into Herreras file. CountyOffice.org does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). On Sunday evening, Presidio County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a two-vehicle collision on Highway 67 approximately 15 miles south of Marfa. Compared with other Mexican border towns, Ojinaga is cleaner, more orderlyalmost, one is tempted to say, uncorrupted. Former Presidio County Sheriff Rick Thompson has been granted early release after a 1992 conviction for his role in smuggling a midnight haul of cocaine worth $48 million dollars. The life sentence of former Presidio County Sheriff Rick Thompson for a federal drug trafficking conviction has been reduced to 30 years. Find Inmate Records and Warrants related to Presidio County Sheriff's Office. As his astounded family and friends soon discovered, Herrera had been arrested for the February 19 murder of Jos Luis Ortega Mata, the 37-year-old editor of the weekly newspaper El Semanario de Ojinaga. All their lives they had crossed that boundary. Your lawyer is going to get you out. Baca Magaa decided to place his bets on the Chihuahua Supreme Court. At the time, the Presidio County Sheriffs Office put out a wanted poster noting that Peters was on the run. To date, he has not returned. Theedition of Presidio County's Big Bend Sentinelthat reported the "billion dollar coke bust in Marfa" that led to Thompson's arrest also featured an article about the sheriff announcing his re-election bid on the same front page. On Thursday, July 5, Magistrate Rosa Isela Jurado Contreras accepted Herreras case. According to authorities, Tobias Penner Peters is wanted for his involvement in a human trafficking attempt on December 30, 2021. Thats what they want, to see you look discouraged. But Molinar was too cynicalor perhaps too smartto take one step onto what now seemed uncharted grounds. His mother said they incurred between $100,000 and $120,000 in expenses. Arturo Gonzlez Rascn, the current attorney general, has a long list of unsolved high-profile cases: the attempted assassination of Governor Patricio Martnez Garca, the slaying of dozens of maquiladora women in Ciudad Jurez, and most recently, the murder of two family members of the forensic scientist who was studying the womens killings. (CBS7 (KOSA)) MARFA, Texas (KOSA) - Update . According to the Presidio County Sheriffs Office, deputies responded to an airplane crash north of the Presidio International Airport on Thursday. This time Baca Magaa had an innocent clientThe only one in my career, he said only half joking. When they had heard nothing at four oclock, their hopes began to fade. Because the charges involved murder, Herrera would have to wait behind bars. Were autonomous. Most people who know how the Mexican justice system works believed differently. property may have severe damage or be subject to county/city orders not described in the auction. Then, at about four-thirty, Baca Magaas son burst into the office from the municipal compound and told Herrera, Youve got your freedom. Twenty minutes later, a court clerk walked in with a faxed copy of the judges order to let Herrera go. Baca Magaa said he was paid $70,000 for his services. That changed dramatically on April 29. http://hyper-reach.com/txpresidiosignup.html, Presidio County Courthouse Why dont you tell him [Junie] that? Baca Magaa thundered. At the meeting, Abbott discussed the influx of undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He took the office after his predecessor, Sheriff Hank Hamilton, was gunned down in 1973 by a mentally unstable man. Even before Judge Estrada Rascn made his ruling to bind Herrera for trial on May 4, the states case had fallen apart. In the predawn hours of Dec. 3, 1991 a few miles from the border town of Presidio, federal agents said that a pickup truck with more than a ton of cocaine had forded the Rio Grande. She brings him food twice daily and picks out his clothes every morning, carrying them in a plastic grocery bag tied with a knot, then departs with his dirty jeans, shorts, and sweat-stained shirts. Junie Herrera had so many friends that if the Chihuahua government needed a scapegoat for Ortega Matas murder, they picked the worst one possible. It suits him well as an attorney. This, said Baca Magaa, ceremoniously holding up a piece of beef he had just sheared off an enormous T-bone steak, is just in case the attorney general decides to throw me in there with El Junie. Then he shamelessly devoured it. Herrera had trouble adjusting to the cold of an air-conditioned home and continued to fidget nervously in his chair. He has properties in Seminole, Texas but sometimes travels to Ojinaga, Mexico, across the border from Presidio. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Though La Tecata didnt recognize the man that she allegedly saw shoot the journalist, she said that the following day she had described him to Arturo El Fay Molina Aguirre, a fellow addict who shines shoes for a living. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. He was wary of being alone on the streets, and he had to be cheered on by his friends after every smile. Former Presidio County Sheriff Rick Thompson MARFA As the town slept fitfully late Dec. 3, 1991, its single traffic light blinking out a perfect pulse, shadowy figures moved through the streets, while others lurked on the outskirts. We are happy to announce that the podcast is now under development and production with Campside Media and Sony Entertainment. Drawer V | Marfa, TX 79843 | Confidential communication can be sent to Sheriff D They had a common goal: a gaudy, three-foot-tall trophy that when Herrera won, he would showcase in the grocery store he owned with his father, whose patrons were mostly from Mexico. While Presidio is known as the hottest place in Texasthe temperature routinely exceeds 110 degrees in the summer Ojinagas claim to fame is more dubious. El Fay then declared to the court that the man La Tecata had described was Otoniel Herrera Valds, El Jimmy, a customer of his and, he thought, the son of a Presidio grocer. Baca Magaa, then, had two separate jobs: to prove Herreras innocence and more important, to figure out how to get him out of prison. His grandfather had founded the business in 1929, and when Junie, the third generation, joined his father, Jesus Chuchi Herrera, in management, the local paper commemorated the event with a front-page shot of the two men shaking hands in front of the produce section. According to the law, prosecutors carry the burden of proving a suspects guilt. The indignation perhaps was deeper in the southern border town since the stakes there were arguably higher: Mexicans live this reality every day. Chambers, now 65, was quick to cooperate with federal officials and only served 13 years of a life sentence. Visit MissingKids.com for information on missing Texas children. If anyone has any information about the whereabouts of both Bonilla and Luna, contact the Presidio County Sheriff's Office at 432-729-4848 or 432-729-4911. Look who came to visit, your cousin from El Paso! Marta Brummett tells her younger brother, Junie, as he greets her by the green bars of the Ojinaga state prison doors. Though in public he exuded confidence, his brother said that privately he appeared frazzled, distressed over the mysterious forces that were keeping Herrera in jail. Find 6 external resources related to Presidio County Sheriff's Office. You have to remind yourself it was in the early days of the war on drugs where everybody believed you could send a strong message and make drugs not be prevalent in American life.". The Presidio County Sheriff Office - Annex, located in Presidio, Texas, is a law enforcement agency that promotes public safety in Presidio County through public policing and the management of county jails and inmates. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7b9d0dfb9d5c7692 He has now served 24 years. PETERS lost control of the aircraft causing an aviation accident North of the Presidio Airport, local authorities said. J.NUEZ - 501. Mobile homes, unpainted cinder-block dwellings, and several dozen handsome brick houses all sit on dirt and rock lanes. The Presidio County Sheriff's Office county Jail is the main correctional facility in Presidio county, Texas. In Presidio residents could barely contain their anger. Phone:(432) 729-4452 Questions about elections: Phone: (432) 729-4812. A 46-year-old Texas pilot pleaded guilty late last week to a federal crime in connection with a Dec. 30, 2021, plane crash that exposed his attempted smuggling of five undocumented immigrants. People running in their skivvies tend to stand out, officials said. Visually it comes as quite a contrast to the West Texas highlands: brown, bleak, and seemingly broke. An old schoolmate of Herreras brother-in-law, he took on Junies case after the family fired its first attorney. Culturally they are more like their neighbors than they are different. Plopped atop an ice chest, Herrera nods in agreement and says, This is a good place to start.. At the annual Onion Festival on May 19, the star of the parade was Junies Chevy Bel Air, which was tugged on a flatbed and revved up when it rolled by the H&H Supermarket. In a country known to repress the media, a murdered journalist like Ortega Mata only worsened Gonzlez Rascns image. Junie was also worried about the future. Chambers also was involved in several gun battles on the border, saved six hunters from a fiery plane crash in the desert, and was shot three times in the back in an assassination attempt on a Mexican fishing boat. Within days, residents of both towns had painted their car windows with white shoe polish and plastered their buildings with fluorescent flyers written in indignant Spanish: Weve Had Enough. In December 1913 the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa attacked Ojinaga; by January he was in control. But Herrera finally buckled down last February, when he borrowed $250,000 to buy out his uncles share of the store. At age 41, it was the younger Herreras first mortgageenough, friends say, to make him tone down the partying. He catches on and leans down for a tentative hug and kiss, the same as he gives his mother, Lucia, and his other sister, Chely Baeza. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. The family also tried its best to enlist political help, but the most that American legislators could promise was that they would monitor the case. As far as they know, at five feet four, with dark hair and brown eyes, I make a credible cousin. But how to forgive and forget? An investigation by authorities found the pilot of the 4-seat aircraft was allegedly smuggling undocumented migrants out of [] The Presidio County Sheriffs Office will continue investigating and filing smuggling charges on the person or persons involved. Then she thought twice. You must sign-up to be notified of emergencies. The project is a result of more than three years of research on the Sheriff Thompson case and interviews with dozens of sources. Apocalypse Sow: Can Anything Stop the Feral Hog Invasion? Welcome to the real frontier reads a sign that greets visitors after they have passed Marfa and rolled down the Chinati Mountains on U.S. 67, bumping into the Mexican border an hour later. Questions about elections: Visit MissingKids.com for information on missing Texas children. Leave them blank to get signed up. Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District, Presidio Co. Facilities Management Policy, Presidio County Employee Email Log-In Page, Far West Texas Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy 2016-2020, Provided by the Texas Association of Counties, Duties & Responsibilities of County Officials. About Us Contact Us He now lives in Granbury, Texas. Rogers is also a current member of the Board of Directors at Marfa Public Radio. Unfortunately, a lot of injustices are committed here. Even the Ojinaga mayor, a member of the states minority partythe National Action Party, or PANcalled for Herreras freedom. He was a favorite child of two nations, though Jesus Manuel Junie Herrera didnt see it that way at all. Phone:(432) 729-4452 June 10, 2020 625 PM. In both towns Herrera is known as an exceptionally friendly, happy-go-lucky person, a 42-year-old who is still growing up. The next day, the then sheriff of Presidio County, Rick Thompson, parked a horse trailer at the County Fairgrounds in Marfa. If you have any information on this or any other illegal activity in Presidio County, please contact the Presidio County Sheriff's Office at 432-729-4848 or 432-729-4911. It is difficult to influence or outright buy an entire jury; judges are a much easier matter. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. The court specifically pointed out in a footnote that Peters was warned he faces up to two decades behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000. Sheriff Hamilton was shot and killed while he and a deputy questioned a man near Marfa in a parked car at the request of U.S. Border Patrol agents in a spotter plane. No, sir, you walk out with your head up high., But Herrera looks anxious and worn today. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. County: Presidio: Legal Description: Lot 20, a 10.18 Acres Lot, out of Section 51 block 2 TM RR: Parcel Number: 28854: . Though sometimes she breaks down after he waves good-bye from inside the jail, in front of him she is all steel. Matt Naham Feb 8th, 2023, 9:07 am. Investigators found videotapes that he had made while having sex with married women. Raising Junies spirits is a family project. He took the office after his predecessor, Sheriff Hank Hamilton, was gunned down in 1973 by a mentally unstable man. He attended school in Alpine, Texas, where he later bought a ranch. The night Judge Estrada Rascn announced that Herrera would be held for trial, some three hundred enraged protesters blocked the bridge that links the towns and came face-to-face with Mexican law enforcement authorities right where a crack in the pavement demarcates the limits of the two countries. And then there are all those unanswered questionswhy Junie?which the Herreras, like other victims of the Mexican justice system, will simply have to let go. Name: Hernandez, Saul, Date of Arrest: 01/01/21, Charge: No Driver's License . Information found on CountyOffice.org is strictly for informational purposes and does not construe legal, financial or medical advice. Your IP: Tobias Penner Peters and pictures of the plane involved [Images via Presidio County Sheriffs Office]. Marfa, TX 79843, How to reach us. McNamara often battled to obtain public records from officials and sued the U.S. Department of Justice in federal court in an attempt to acquire records in the Thompson case. The findings of fact filed in court and signed by a federal magistrate judge noted that the guilty plea was knowing and voluntary, that Peters was fully competent and capable of entering an informed plea, that he was aware of the nature of the charges and the consequences, and that the guilty plea was supported by an independent basis in fact containing each of the essential elements of the offense.. The sheriff who had been a media darling in the war on drugs was later arrested, charged with drug trafficking, and sentenced to life. The people of Presidio and Ojinaga were aware that they lived on the edges of their two countries, but except for bureaucratic nuisances like paying taxes or electing some distant government leader, here the Rio Grande had always seemed irrelevant.