Roma man receives second life sentence for plot to kill judge

Roma man receives second life sentence for plot to kill judge

A Roma man was sentenced to a second life term Friday for his jailhouse plot to kill the judge that originally put him in prison.

A federal jury in Houston convicted Joel Lopez Sr., 51, in March of conspiring to kill U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa while he was serving a previous life sentence on drug smuggling charges.

Prosecutors alleged that Lopez and his wife offered to pay another inmate — who eventually became an FBI informant — $2 million to target the McAllen-based magistrate, believing that his death might help Lopez’s chances on appeal.

The duo also offered another $1 million for the man to kidnap and kill a Roma waitress who allegedly owed their family thousands of dollars in drug debts.

Investigators stumbled across the plot when their would-be hit man told his story to authorities. And over the next seven months, FBI agents coaxed him to follow the order Lopez sent him through the piping in the prison’s toilet system.

Once the man was released from prison, he made contact with Lopez’s wife — Aracely Gonzalez — who helped coordinate the plan from the outside.

Lopez eventually gave the go-ahead to kidnap the waitress in January 2008 and told Gonzalez to demand a $100,000 ransom from the woman’s family. The plot against the judge was called off due to a lack of funds, federal prosecutors said.

Federal agents staged the abduction three months later and went so far as to demand payment from her family, even though one of her relatives knew the kidnapping was a ruse.

Investigators arrested Gonzalez after she arrived at a scheduled rendezvous point in McAllen to accept her cut of the ransom money.

Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in January and is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence. She agreed to testify against her husband at his trial earlier this year.

Lopez, who was housed at a detention facility in Pollack, La., at the time, also received a 10-year prison term for his conviction on a charge of plotting the murder-for-hire scheme across state lines.

His attorney – David Paul Cunningham – said in court documents that his client plans to appeal.