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Texas Cop’s Side Hustle Was Helping Drug Cartels, Feds Say
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A Progreso, Texas police sergeant was arrested this month for his alleged role in helping drug cartels do business along the Texas-Mexico border.
The feds’ "Operation Blue Shame" launched last August after immigrations officials were tipped off by a confidential informant that Geovani Hernandez was allegedly using his law enforcement position to assist an “unidentified drug trafficking organization.”
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Hernandez was a police sergeant in Progreso, Texas at the time. According to the Washington Post, the 43-year-old man has worked in law enforcement all along the Texas-Mexico border. When he allegedly spoke to a second confidential informant in May 2017, he said he needed money to put toward his political campaign running for Hidalgo County Constable.
He had previously run for sheriff of Hidalgo County in 2012 and 2014, but lost both times.
According to court documents, Hernandez was reportedly caught on tape bragging to the May 2017 informant that he was a “close friend” of a Gulf Cartel boss, Juan Manuel Loza-Salinas, who had been killed by police in April.
He allegedly built a relationship with the informant by running license plate checks for a payment of $1,000. The court documents claim that the officer also ran checks on individuals through a police database for the informant.
In July, Hernandez allegedly agreed to help a vehicle transport goods from Progreso to Pharr, Texas for a payment of $5,000. The officer instructed the informant “not to tell him what the vehicle would be transporting, not to discuss any details on their current cellphones, and to buy new cellphones,” according to court documents.
The vehicle was loaded with 10 kilos of white powder, one of which was actual cocaine.
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The delivery made it to Pharr and Hernandez received his payment the next day. By August 14, he was in custody. According to the Post, he lost his job with the Progreso police department on the day of his first court appearance.
The disgraced officer is facing charges of aiding and abetting, attempt to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and possession with attempt to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.
Strangely, Hernandez didn’t keep his alleged side hustle with drug smugglers much of a secret. He appears in a flashy 2016 music video for “6000 Kilos” a song by Gerardo Hernandez glorifying drug traffickers. Hernandez plays the role of a corrupt police officer.
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