AP News, February 12th, 2007
A South Texas district attorney was in jail early Monday for refusing to let police search his office over allegations of abuse of office and theft, officials said.
"He stood in front of the door and said we weren't going in and, 'If you have to arrest me, arrest me,'" Raymondville Police Chief Uvaldo Zamora said in Monday editions of the Valley Morning Star. "We gave him several more opportunities to cooperate. But he refused. We had no other choice but to place him under arrest."
Willacy County District Attorney Juan Guerra was taken into custody Sunday at the county courthouse on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with the official duties of a police officer.
He remained jailed Monday morning, Sheriff Larry Spence told The Associated Press.
No bond had yet been set, but Spence expected Guerra to be arraigned later in the day. He declined to make Guerra available, citing jail policy against inmate interviews. A message left with Guerra's brother, County Commissioner Aurelio Guerra, was not immediately returned. A call to the district attorney's office rang unanswered.
Guerra is under investigation for allegations involving "a $10,000 attempted extortion," the sale of a 2002 Toyota Camry that belonged to the state and an $800 telephone reimbursement, special prosecutor Gustavo Garza said.
The district attorney says he is being targeting with the bribery investigation because of cases he instigated that were unflattering to county officials.
Guerra has long had disagreements with his colleagues in the county's justice system, including over the appointment of Garza, a longtime political rival of Guerra's, as special prosecutor to investigate him.
Last week, Guerra said he was trying to have the county sheriff, district clerk, and county clerk removed from office, but he said the district clerk refused to accept his petitions, which he said were based on allegations of official misconduct.
In the past, he has led an investigation into a bribery scheme involving federal prison contracts that led to guilty pleas from three former Willacy and Webb County commissioners, and he said last week he preparing to expose corruption involving a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Garza said Sunday that the investigation into Guerra "has nothing to do with politics."
"This is a country of laws and not of men. The evidence will speak for itself," Garza said.
Raymondville is in the Rio Grande Valley, about 25 miles north of the Mexico border.
