McAllen TX: 3 arrested in 2013 murder of CDG Atty/US informant

Three Mexican nationals have been arrested in McAllen, Texas, in connection with last year's high-profile killing of a reputed drug cartel lawyer at Southlake Town Square.

Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda, his son, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano, and a cousin, Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, were arrested by FBI agents, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Ledezma-Cepeda and his son were taken into custody as they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into McAllen. Cepeda-Cortez was taken into custody in McAllen, where he had been living.

Ledezma-Cepeda was charged with interstate stalking. The charges against Ledezma-Campano and Cepeda-Cortez are unclear at this time.

Southlake Police Chief Steve Mylett has previously said he believed the murder was the work of professional killers. The U.S. Attorney's Office, Southlake Police Department, FBI, and DEA will hold a joint press conference Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Juan Guerrero-Chapa, 43, was gunned down in May 2013 in a parking lot at the popular outdoor shopping mall. His wife was loading bags into their Range Rover when a newer-model white SUV pulled up behind them. A man with a partially-covered face got out of passenger side and opened fire on Guerrero-Chapa, hitting him multiple times.

The killers quickly fled the area.

The FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Texas Department of Public Safety have all assisted in the investigation.

Mexican journalists have reported that Guerrero-Chapa represented high-profile members of the brutal Gulf Cartel, including one man who was once its leader.

Authorities have said that he moved to Southlake two years ago and that he was in the country legally.

Guerrero-Chapa operated a ranching operation in Mexico and also practiced law there, authorities have said. 

Juan Guerrero Chapa, 43, had worked with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, secretly providing inside information on cartel operations to American investigators.

Guerrero

•Southlake Murder Victim Was Drug Cartel Attorney

•An autopsy shows he had cocaine in his system and was shot 10 times. Two of the bullets pierced his heart.

•Guerrero was living anonymously in Southlake with his wife and three children in a posh $1 million home he bought with cash in 2011. No public records were in his or his wife's name.

•Guerrero was arrested in Miami Beach before moving to Southlake after his girlfriend claimed he had assaulted her. She told police he was "always aggressive" and "an important person in Mexico," according to a police report.

•Guerrero formed at least two Texas corporations, including a gaming company using his own name. One expert speculated the companies may have been used to launder money.

•The murder came less than one month after the slaying of another attorney in Guerrero's hometown in Mexico. The crimes appear related and both lawyers were involved with casinos, according to a Mexican news report.

The gunmen who opened fire on him likely slipped into North Texas from Mexico and quickly fled back, according to law enforcement sources.

BLO?
siskiyou_kid found this tidbit:

In September 2012, the Monterrey newspaper Reporte Indigo reported that Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda was in charge of internal affairs for San Pedro Police and ran an intelligence operation which included eavesdropping on telephone calls. The article also claimed that he was suspected of sharing secret information with the Beltran Leyva drug cartel.

However, today Indigo is saying it was Dallas Morning News:
 

A researcher told the Dallas Morning News that the cartel of the Beltran Leyva probably ordered the murder because "money reasons and because it was not fulfilling its obligations."

From the FBI news conference of this afternoon

Three Mexican citizens are in federal custody following their arrest last Friday, September 5, 2014, in McAllen, Texas, on federal charges stemming from the murder of a Southlake, Texas, man in May 2013. The announcement was made this afternoon at a press conference, held at Southlake’s Department of Public Safety, by Stephen Mylett, Chief of the Southlake Police Department; John Parker, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Texas; Diego Rodriguez, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI Dallas Division; and Daniel R. Salter, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Field Division.

“The Southlake Police Department could not have been successful without the assistance of our regional partners,” said Chief Mylett. “Over the past year, a great deal of work has been conducted in order to bring those responsible for Mr. Chapa’s murder to justice. Through this collaborative effort, three individuals were identified as having played a principal role in the conspiracy to commit this heinous murder.”

Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda, a/k/a “Chuy” and “Juan Ramos,” 58, is charged in a federal indictment, returned in early July 2014 by a federal grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, and unsealed yesterday, with one count of interstate stalking resulting in death and aiding and abetting. He was arrested on the Anzalduas International Bridge at the checkpoint.

Two others were arrested on the same charge as outlined in a federal criminal complaint filed on Friday, September 5, 2014, and unsealed this afternoon. Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano, 30, was also arrested on the Anzalduas International Bridge at the checkpoint. Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, 58, who is legally in the U.S. on a green card, was arrested at a residence in Edinburg, Texas. Ledezma-Cepeda is Ledezma-Campano’s father and Cepeda-Cortes’s cousin.

Two of the defendants made their initial appearances yesterday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in McAllen. Defendant Ledezma-Campano made his initial appearance this morning; his preliminary, detention and identity hearings are set for 11:00 a.m. on Friday in federal court in McAllen. The Northern District of Texas is coordinating with the U.S. Marshals Service to transport the defendants to the Northern District for prosecution.

“Today I commend the dedicated and relentless efforts of the FBI, assisted by the DEA, who, along with the Southlake Police Department, led this extensive investigation to identify and apprehend those responsible for Mr. Chapa’s murder last year,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Parker. “I also want to thank our other law enforcement partners who assisted in this 16-month-long investigation—ATF, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE)

On May 22, 2013, at approximately 6:47 p.m., Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was ambushed and shot multiple times with a 9mm pistol while seated in a Range Rover vehicle that was parked in Southlake Town Square. Video surveillance showed an individual exit the rear passenger side of a Toyota Sequoia after it pulled behind Mr. Chapa’s vehicle, and then walk to the passenger side where Mr. Chapa was seated. A few seconds later, the Sequoia drove away and Mr. Chapa was dead.

According to documents filed in the case, beginning on approximately March 1, 2011 and continuing to May 22, 2013, the three defendants traveled in interstate and foreign commerce from Mexico to Southlake, and elsewhere, with the intent to kill Mr. Chapa.

Cepeda-Cortes used e-mail in an effort to locate Mr. Chapa, exchanging personal information regarding Mr. Chapa’s family, photographs of Mr. Chapa’s residence, vehicles associated with Mr. Chapa’s family and personal information about Mr. Chapa. In addition, at various times during this period, the defendants rented an apartment in Grapevine, Texas, where they stayed while tracking Mr. Chapa.

The defendants used various means to track Mr. Chapa and members of his family. Cepeda-Cortes purchased surveillance cameras that were placed in various locations in Mr. Chapa’s neighborhood. In addition, while in the area, the defendants purchased and rented several vehicles that, according to the complaint, allowed them to change vehicles often and use non-descript rental vehicles to avoid detection by Mr. Chapa and his family. They placed automobile tracking devices on their vehicles, as well as vehicles owned and operated by Mr. Chapa and his relatives, including the Range Rover Mr. Chapa was in when he was murdered.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged and must be made under oath before a U.S. magistrate judge. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The government has 30 days to present the case to a federal grand jury for indictment. The maximum statutory penalty for the offense as charged is life in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The investigation remains ongoing and additional arrests are expected.

NBCDFW and TheMonitorand FBI website