Former judge Abel Limas might lose license
“Calabazas,” or pumpkins, was used as a code word to alert former state 404th District Court Judge Abel C. Limas that bribe money was coming his way, federal court records show.
As more details come to light, the manner in which Limas operated his court is becoming clearer.
Limas pleaded guilty Thursday to racketeering by soliciting, extorting and accepting bribes totaling at least $257,300 in exchange for his giving favorable rulings. His plea, which came in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, resulted from a federal indictment.
His freedom, his license as a lawyer, and his rulings in criminal and civil cases hang in the balance following his guilty plea.
His activities comprise the most explosive corruption case here since the federal conviction in 2005 of former Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu, who is now serving a term of nearly 25 years for racketeering.
The indictment against Limas, an attorney and former police officer, is the result of a years’ long investigation that has brought his 35 years in law enforcement and judicial work to a screeching halt.
Details unfold
Documents that are now public make it clear that representatives from the FBI, the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Brownsville Police Department investigated Limas for more than two years.
The indictment against him includes details of alleged illicit activities of five other individuals, identified only as persons A, B, C, D, and E. One is described as an associate of Limas and four are attorneys.
Former Limas associate Jose Manuel Longoria, 57, was arrested Thursday on a charge of wire fraud, and a comparison of Limas’ indictment and the complaint against Longoria shows that he is Person B of the indictment — an alleged middleman between Limas and criminal defendants. Longoria allegedly helped arrange favorable court treatment in return for monetary payments made directly or indirectly to Limas.
The indictment against Limas alleges that he, aided by Person B, obtained $600 in 2007 to continue and then terminate a probation revocation proceeding; $700 in 2008 to change the terms of a defendant’s appearance bond; and $1,500 as gleaned from a federal investigation using wiretaps that ran from April 22, 2008, to May 13, 2008. It was on May 13, 2008, that Limas changed the terms of probation for a defendant to allow him to report to his probation officer by mail rather than in person.
It was in this last case that Longoria allegedly told Limas’ wife that he had some “calabazas” for Limas, the records show.
The alleged association with Person E, an attorney who has not yet been identified, also dealt with a criminal case. The indictment against Limas alleges that in 2008, he received $2,000 from Person E to modify the terms of probation and dismiss charges against one of Person E’s clients.
The remaining allegations in the indictment involve four civil cases and Persons A, C and D. Two of the cases involve Persons A and C.
The indictment alleges that in a scheme from March 2008 through December 2009, Limas obtained $235,000 from Persons A and C for favorable judicial rulings, transfer of cases and other matters.
Limas lost re-election in 2008 and left office at the end of that year.
The accusations regarding the $235,000 would suggest that Limas’ improper activity started when he was still in office but continued until a year after he left office.
It also is alleged that Limas received $8,000 on May 8, 2008, from Person C at the direction of Person A for favorable judicial rulings, transfer of cases and other matters.
The other two civil cases involve Person D and have to do with the appointment of an ad-litem attorney and other matters in 2008, according to the indictment. Ad-litem attorneys are routinely appointed by state district judges to look after the interests of a minor.
In one case, Limas allegedly received $4,500 from Person D for an ad-litem appointment and $5,000 for denying a motion for a sanction and other judicial acts.
More than 270 cases
In his unsuccessful bid in 2008 for a third term in office, Limas touted his experience over his challenger, noting that he had presided over more than 270 criminal and civil cases in the eight years that he had been the judge for the 404th Judicial District.
What effect his plea of guilty for racketeering could have on the court cases involved is not known.
Attorney and former state prosecutor John Blaylock weighed in, noting that the parties involved in the cases could request that the rulings be revisited and even overturned.
“Every single order that was made in the cases is subject to be undone,” Blaylock said. “All the work that was done on those cases has to be redone if either of the parties requests it.”
Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, in a written statement, said he had not received any information from the federal government as to which criminal cases were the subject of Limas’ guilty plea.
Villalobos added: “Generally speaking, the judicial system is not set up to protect the state’s rights to re-prosecute an individual that has gone through a contested matter in court. We can certainly look into possible state charges of bribery against any of the defendants that paid Limas, if they are not already being pursued by the federal government.”
Law license
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct said no disciplinary action was taken against Limas while he was in office. An official said they could not comment on whether any complaint had been filed against Limas, citing confidentiality.
Maureen Ray, spokeswoman for the State Bar of Texas, said there is a possibility that Limas could have his law license suspended or he could be disbarred depending on the sentence that he receives. The indication is that this would mostly likely be done after he had exhausted any appeals.
Limas, however, entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and, although the plea agreement has been sealed, a review of past plea agreements suggests that the right to appeal was not part of the deal.
Life after judgeship
Limas was district judge from 2001 to 2008 when he lost his re-election bid. At the start of 2009, he established a private practice.
Limas also became affiliated with the Austin-based law firm Rosenthal & Watson, The Brownville Herald found from records filed with the Texas Supreme Court. The documentation, as an exhibit, contains a March 2010 letter from Limas to two attorneys. The letterhead states that Limas is “of counsel” to the Austin firm, meaning he worked with them but was not a partner.
“He was of counsel to the law firm,” firm principal Marc G. Rosenthal verified Friday in a telephone interview with The Herald, noting that Limas stopped being of counsel to his law firm within the last several months.
“I’m just hearing this for the first time,” Rosenthal said of Limas’ indictment and guilty plea when asked for a comment. “My reaction is that I’m surprised.”
Rosenthal said that Limas became of counsel to the firm at the beginning of 2009, shortly after he left the bench.
During the time that they were associated, Rosenthal said he never noticed anything amiss, nothing that would suggest that Limas was involved in illicit activity such as receiving bribes.
“No, of course not, everything was aboveboard and legal so far as our dealings,” Rosenthal said.
Limas’ law office remained opened Friday. He did not respond to a request for comment left at his office Thursday.
Next step
For now, Limas, who faces sentencing July 5, has been ordered to undergo a mental evaluation, not drink, not have a weapon, surrender a passport if he has one, and not travel out of state or to Mexico.
He was released on an unsecured $50,000 bond that the court approved.
The court Thursday also approved a defense request — amid objection from the government attorney — to reseal the indictment for up to 14 days.
“I’m not sure what the thinking behind that is,” Blaylock said. “It has to be that ‘I don’t want all the details to get out’ until the last person is arrested,” he speculated.
