Chihuahua State Police Commander Linked to the Sinaloa Cartel Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Sergio Alberto Huerta Verzosa

Sergio Alberto Huerta Verzosa ("Comandante Huerta"), former commander of the Chihuahua State Police, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Mexico for organized crime involvement and drug trafficking.

Mexican federal authorities arrested him in 2014 for his involvement in the escape of several Sinaloa Cartel sicarios (hitmen) who were wounded in a hospital in Parral, Chihuahua. The hitmen were receiving medical attention after a shootout with security forces. Investigators also stated that Huerta was responsible for ordering several murders in the area while abusing his role as a police chief.

Over the course of 2014, authorities arrested several members of the Chihuahua State Police for collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel: state police coordinator Jesús José Quintana Moreno; anti-theft state police chief Luis Raúl Güereque Herrera; state police officer Héctor Armando Torres Zapién; and two other unnamed state police officers.

Upon his arrest, Huerta was imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 2 ("Puente Grande"), a maximum-security prison in Jalisco. In 2016, a federal judge sentenced him to 15 years for organized crime involvement and drug trafficking, but Huerta's defense appealed the decision. They won the appeal after a tribunal court ordered for a re-trial.

However, the same federal judge sentenced Huerta again to 15 years in prison. As part of his sentence, Huerta was prohibited from holding another public official role for another fifteen years following his release.

Sources: Milenio; MSN; La Opcion; Diario de Juarez (1); Diario de Juarez (2)