Two caught with cartel boss sentenced to time served

A federal judge in Brownsville sentenced the two men caught in October with alleged Gulf Cartel boss Rafael Cárdenas Vela to 126 days in prison — a period they have already served.

Francisco Javier Escalante Jiménez and Germán Alejandro Huízar Marroquín pleaded guilty in December to lying to federal agents about their knowledge of the identity of Cárdenas Vela. Both defendants are citizens of Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen handed down the sentence Wednesday morning and gave them credit for time served, so the men have completed the punishment.

Both men entered the courtroom Wednesday handcuffed and in street clothes and begged the judge for leniency.

In Spanish, Escalante Jiménez apologized to his family, especially to his wife. Huízar Marroquín also addressed the court, just asking for the lowest sentence possible.

Several female family members of the men attended the sentencing but declined to comment after the proceedings.

Cárdenas Vela, said to be a plaza boss in the Gulf Cartel’s Matamoros operation at the time of his arrest, is accused of managing for a decade a drug-trafficking operation that spanned several states.

He is the nephew of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, former leader of the criminal organization, and the late Ezequiel “Tony Tormenta” Cárdenas Guillén.

Port Isabel police arrested Escalante Jiménez and Huízar Marroquín with Cárdenas Vela after stopping their vehicle on a traffic violation. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents had been investigating the cartel leader, who was living in Rio Hondo, for a lengthy period before his arrest.

The sentence upheld the plea deal struck by the government and the defense attorneys, Ed Cyganiewicz and Trey Garza III, which said the men would cooperate with law enforcement in exchange for lenient sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jody Young said the government believes the men’s involvement with Cárdenas Vela is limited, though they did know the man’s role in the cartel.

When caught, Escalante Jiménez and Huízar Marroquín told agents they did not know the true identity of Cárdenas Vela, who showed authorities a passport with a false name.

The case against Cárdenas Vela is still pending in federal court. He has a pretrial conference set for the end of April.