FORMER SHERIFF SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 24 YEARS

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Former Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu was
sentenced Tuesday to more than 24 years in federal prison and a $5,000 fine
for using his office to lead a criminal enterprise that extorted money from
drug dealers and other criminals.

"I share everyone else's disappointment in what you have done and what you
have allowed others to do because of the position that you had," U.S.
District Judge Hilda Tagle said as she sentenced Cantu and four co-defendants.

Cantu, 50, stood with hunched shoulders in green prison garb, noticeably
thinner than when he was arrested and sent to jail in June. His attorney,
Alberto Pullen, has said he has found religion and realized he had a
drinking problem.

When asked if he had anything to say before being sentenced, his loud,
trembling, voice filled the courtroom with an apologetic soliloquy that
lasted more than five minutes before Tagle cut him off.

"I am not here to cry. I've cried for six months in a room by myself,"
Cantu said. "The man that you arrested six months ago, he's dead. ... I was
lost in sin and alcohol. ... This is the real Conrado Cantu, the man who
has passion and love and writes songs. I have charisma."

He said that he had been ill-equipped for the sheriff's job, and by the end
of his four-year term the pressure of 18-hour days and media attention had
gotten to him. He said that he hated drugs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Lara said prosecutors were pleased with the
sentence.

"It sends a good message to the community," he said. "You're going to sell
your badge in Cameron County or anywhere, we're going to prosecute you to
the full extent of the law."

Two witnesses testified to Cantu's character: his son, Conrado Cantu Jr.,
and a local pastor who knew Cantu not as a churchgoer but as a fellow
father at their sons' football games.

Cantu Jr., a college student, described his father as "a beautiful soul, a
beautiful spirit, a beautiful man" who has changed tremendously during his
time in jail.

Juan Morales, the pastor, blamed Cantu's actions on "bad company."

Cantu's wife was not present.

Tagle was curt as she explained her sentence.

"You used your charisma to betray your community," she told Cantu. "For
somebody who hates drugs, you certainly did a lot to help the drug
trafficking trade."

She said people in the community would long wonder if the police officer in
the patrol car next to them was escorting a drug dealer, one of the
offenses described in the indictment.

While Tagle could have sentenced Cantu to life, Pullen said Cantu had
expected a lighter sentence because of his cooperation with federal
investigators.

Cantu pleaded guilty July 8 to one count of heading a criminal enterprise
engaged in acts of extortion, drug trafficking, obstruction of state and
local law enforcement efforts, witness tampering and bribery. Prosecutors
agreed to drop other charges against him at sentencing.

The first to be sentenced Tuesday was Hector Solis, who had pleaded guilty
to helping Cantu tip off owners of gambling dens to law enforcement raids.
He was sentenced to six months in prison sentence and a $1,000 fine.

Rumaldo Rodriguez, Cantu's former captain, was sentenced to 14 months in
federal prison. Reynaldo Uribe, who admitted to taking $2,000 to transport
two loads of drug cash, was sentenced to one year, four months.

Geronimo Garcia, who ran the jail commissary and was the "idea man" of the
enterprise, was sentenced to nine years, six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.