A former judge from New Mexico was arrested by federal agents of national security investigations on Thursday and accused of manipulating evidence in a case against a man suspected of being a member of the Trena de Aragua gang, according to a criminal complaint filed on Friday.
The complaint alleges that Joel Cano, a former magistrate of Division 6 of Doña Ana County, destroyed evidence in a federal investigation into the Venezuelan man accused of being in the United States illegally and residing in a rear house in properties owned by the judge and his wife at the crossings.
His arrest took place one day before the FBI arrested the judge of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Hannah Dugan, claiming that she obstructed the federal authorities who sought to stop an undocumented immigrant to accompany him through a non -public jury door in his court. A statement issued on behalf of the judge said that “it will defend itself vigorously and hopes to be exonerated,” said the statement.
On Friday, the United States attorney general, Pam Bondi, linked the two cases under the mission of zero tolerance of the Trump administration for those who come illegally to the United States and any judges who believe they are helping them.
“Today we are sending a very strong message,” Bondi said in Fox News. “If you are housing a fugitive, we don’t care who you are, if you are helping to hide one, if you are giving you weapons for members of ADD, anyone who is illegally in this country, we will look for it and we will process it. We will find it.”
The recently resigned judge from New Mexico notified at the beginning of spring days after federal agents conducted a search in their property. His last day at the bank was on March 21.
An application to search the rear house at the end of February alleges that, in addition to the alleged member of the gang, two other Venezuelans in the country lived illegally there and that the adult daughter of the grayans lives on the property.
Federal officials have accused the judge of destroying a cell phone that is said to belong to the alleged member of the Christian Gang Adrian Ortega-Lopez.
In a criminal complaint, the officials said that the judge destroyed the phone with a hammer and that the device was being wanted because there may be photographs that show Ortega-López possessing weapons, some of which allegedly belonged to Cano, his wife and daughter.
A federal complaint separated against Ortega-López, who accuses him of illegally possessing a firearm, affirms that an anonymous typter accused him of being a member of ADD and that his tattoos support the accusation. The anonymous council inspired the investigation, according to the complaint.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appointed ADS as a foreign terrorist organization in February.
The judge’s wife, Nancy Cano, was accused on Friday of conspiracy to manipulate evidence. The criminal complaint alleges that he told Ortega-Lopez to eliminate his Facebook account where he had published photos with weapons allegedly owned by the judge, his wife or daughter.
It is not clear if the graye have a lawyer for the matter. Two telephone numbers associated with their address, including one for a company called Cano Insurance, were out of service. Nor was it clear if Ortega-Lopez has a lawyer. The Federal Public Defender’s Office in New Mexico did not immediately respond to a comment request.
In March, a judge ordered Ortega-Lópe to release on bail and in the “third-party custody of Nancy Cano. Later, the Federal Government successfully argued that they kept him locked after the prosecutors said that his cell phone had images of a decapitated and Ortega-Lopez body was associated with known TDA gang members, according to a spokesman for the United States prosecutor’s office in New Mexico. An audience is scheduled for Tuesday.
Joel Cano was hired at the Doña Ana County Detention Center on Thursday without links that appear on the list, according to the records of the inmates. Nancy Cano was reserved approximately half an hour before in conditions of without bonds, also, the records affirm.
