Mortgage company begins foreclosure process on Guerra's home

RAYMONDVILLE - A mortgage company is foreclosing on District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra's house, according to notice posted at the Willacy County courthouse.

Chase Home Finance of Columbus, Ohio, has begun the foreclosure process on the house that Chief Appraiser Agustin Lopez said has an appraised value of $256,500.

The sprawling ranch-style house at 182 Countyline Road in Sebastian is set to be to auctioned on the courthouse steps Jan. 6, according to the notice filed Nov. 24.

Records show that this is the second time that the house has faced foreclosure.

The mortgage company filed for foreclosure July 1 and an auction was scheduled for Sept. 2.

But Guerra made payments to stop the sale, he said.

"We worked it out and I went ahead and took care it," Guerra said. "I made my payments. That was already taken care of."

Guerra said he recently fell behind on payments because he personally financed an investigation that led to grand jury indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, state Sen. Eddie Lucio and several local officials.

State District Judge Manuel Bañales on Monday quashed the indictments.

"I had to finance Operation Goliath because no one else wanted to," Guerra said, referring to his code word for the investigation.

Guerra said he wanted to stop deaths in private prisons.

In a quashed indictment, Guerra claimed the GEO Group's negligence led to the murder of Gregorio De La Rosa, 33, who inmates killed in a Raymondville prison in 2001.

"My point was to stop the killing at any cost," Guerra said. "At whatever cost to me, I was going to stop the killing."

Guerra declined to disclose the amount he financed to conduct the investigation.

In January 2004, Guerra borrowed $250,000 from Texas State Bank to build the house on an acre of land off Expressway 77 near the Willacy and Cameron county line, a document shows.

Neither representatives for the mortgage company nor its attorneys, Barrett Daffin Frappier Turner & Engel, would disclose the balance of the loan.

Guerra, who draws a $125,000 annual salary, will leave office Dec. 31 after losing a bid for a fourth straight term in office.