Ex-Federal Employee Sentenced For Divulging Sensitive Information To Drug Traffickers

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

A former paralegal specialist in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Antonio was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation for lying to federal agents about divulging sensitive law enforcement information to drug smugglers linked to Mexican cartels.

Jennifer Loya, 31, was arrested last year by agents with the FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The feds had been investigating traffickers that included Roland Gustamante, who is married to her sister.

The investigation found that Gustamante and his group were tied to other traffickers and Mexican cartels and that Gustamante had inside information that Loya saw in the course of her job.

Initially charged as part of the conspiracy, Loya pleaded guilty in April to making a false statement. She admitted that, on May 7, 2020, when the FBI and DEA questioned her, she falsely denied passing on any sensitive information to her sister.

Loya admitted that she did tell her sister, Kimberly Loya, that the feds were coming after Gustamante and that she should leave the trafficker. Jennifer Loya did not know her sister would tell Gustamante nor that she was entrenched in the drug organization, Jennifer Loya’s lawyer, John Convery, told U.S. District Judge Fred Biery.

The judge admonished Jennifer Loya for breaching the trust of the government.

“I’m sorry for breaking your trust,” Jennifer Loya told employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office who attended her sentencing. “That was never my intent. It was just to get my sister away and safe.”

Jennifer Loya began working with the office in San Antonio as a legal assistant in 2017, and was promoted to paralegal specialist in February 2020, making about $60,000 a year. She resigned after her arrest, losing her salary, medical benefits and was trying to earn a bachelor’s degree so she could attend law school and become a lawyer, Convery said.

Prosecutor Robert Searls Johnson asked the judge to sentence Jennifer Loya to one year and one day, saying Loya might have obstructed justice because her information helped out drug dealers. One cooperating defendant told investigators that Gustamante texted him shortly before his arrest so that he could get rid of drugs before a raid.

“The DEA din’t find the drugs they expected to find,” Johnson told Biery.

Convery urged the judge to follow the recommended sentencing guideline of zero to six months, a range that allowed for probation. The defense lawyer argued that Loya’s information was not specific or detailed and only meant to “help her sister, not to do anything bad against the United States.”

Kimberly Loya faces sentencing Aug. 31 for her guilty plea to money laundering conspiracy. She admitted she transported drug proceeds from San Antonio to Laredo for the group.

Gustamante pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking conspiracy in December, and Biery sentenced him on April 8 to more than 16 years in federal prison. Others related to the investigation also have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. The once close sisters no longer talk to each other.

Express News