Former district attorney indicted

Former Cameron County District Attorney Yolanda de Leon has been indicted on charges of tampering with governmental records and perjury.

De Leon appeared in a State District Court this afternoon to be arraigned on the charges, but her arraignment has been postponed for two weeks.

A Cameron County grand jury handed down the indictments earlier this week.

The indictment comes after confidential information was released to district attorney candidate Peter Zavaletta during the March primary election.

That information was used in political advertisements that appeared in several newspapers including The Brownsville Herald and the Valley Morning Star.

The information belonged to the Cameron County's Child Advocacy Center and is not for publication, District Attorney Armando Villalobos said in a previous interview.

While a search warrant was executed at Zavaletta's office in March, he was never charged with any crime.

Although Zavaletta was to be indicted too, the District Attorney's Office asked this afternoon that his name be removed from the indictment because he is to be a cooperating witness.

For more information, read Friday's edition of The Brownsville Herald.