Wednesday, February 15, 2012

U.S. lawmaker seeks answers after State Department error releases Mexican fugitive from Texas jail

Error or.......?

Via ruusso

A former Mexican government official wanted for embezzling millions was arrested in Texas this month, then promptly ordered released by the State Department in a case that has one lawmaker demanding answers.

A day after pulling rank on Smith County, Texas, law enforcement officials, the State Department rescinded the order. But Hector Hernandez Javier Villarreal was gone by then. Now Rep. Louie Gohmert is calling for congressional hearings to find out what happened.

"That's the question: What are the federal officials thinking? The State Department is screwing up by ordering locals to release these fugitives," Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com. "I don't know if it's corruption or incompetence, but it's one or the other and in my experience with federal government, I'm guessing it's incompetence."

Villarreal, the former secretary executive of the Tax Administration Service of Coahulia, Mexico, was arrested there in November on charges relating to an alleged scheme involving embezzling millions of dollars from the Mexican government. He posted $1 million cash bond, got himself a U.S. visa and then skipped town.

Villarreal surfaced in Tyler, Texas, on Feb. 1, when he, his wife Maria Teresita Botello and another man were pulled over for a routine stop. The couple's two children were also in the car and were turned over to child protective services.

"All we did was make a traffic stop; they didn't have a front license plate," Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith told FoxNews.com.

Police were given permission to search the vehicle and found $67,000 in cash and a shotgun, Smith said.

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