South Texas grand jury indicts police officer and co-defendant for conspiracy to traffic cocaine

MCALLEN, Texas — A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment Tuesday against a police officer and a second defendant for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), FBI, and the Texas Rangers.

Noel Pena, 29, an investigator with the Rio Grande City (Texas) Police Department, and Hector Salinas-Hinojosa, 21, of Roma, Texas, are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Both were arrested April 17.

The indictment is the result of an investigation that began last year and resulted in a sting operation that occurred last month. Salinas-Hinojosa was arrested April 17 upon the filing of a criminal complaint. Pena was taken into custody the following morning.

According to the criminal complaint, Pena and Salinas-Hinojosa conspired to provide a fake police report to an undercover officer who was acting as a cocaine trafficker. The undercover “cocaine trafficker” claimed to need assistance to steal the majority of a 10-kilogram cocaine load he was holding for the drug cartels.  On April 9, Salinas-Hinojosa and Pena met with the undercover officer and agreed to provide the fake police report to make it appear that 10 kilograms of cocaine had been seized by law enforcement, according to the charges. In exchange, they were allegedly supposed to be paid $10,000. The complaint alleges that at the time of the meeting, the undercover officer provided $5,000 as a down payment for the report.

The scheme alleged in the complaint involved Pena, as an investigator assigned to the Starr County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, being tipped off to the location of the cocaine. He would then stage a law enforcement operation.

On April 11, two kilograms of cocaine was left at a stash house location in Garceno, Texas. After being tipped off to the location, Pena allegedly proceeded to the residence and ‘found’ the cocaine and then obtained a search warrant to seize it. Subsequently, on April 17 Salinas-Hinojosa provided the fake report to the undercover officer and was paid the remaining $5,000.

All three counts carry a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison as possible punishment, as well as a possible $10 million fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Juan F. Alanis and Ted Imperato, Southern District of Texas, are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.