Former Houston police officer of the year and alleged Mexican cartel member Noe Juarez was caught on video selling sensitive information and assault rifles to undercover informants.
Jauez was also accused of working for the infamous Los Zetas cartel and allegedly took part in a drug trafficking conspiracy since 2006. The disgraced cop supposedly provided the cartel with bulletproof vests, luxury vehicles, firearms, police scanners, and law enforcement database access.
Members of Juarez’s family, including two of his nephews, were arrested on drug smuggling charges earlier this month. In 2014, his nephew Sergio Grimaldo was extradited from Mexico and later charged for taking part in a conspiracy to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine.
Later that year, Efrain Grimaldo (Sergio’s brother) was sentenced to 33 years in federal prison after he was caught attempting to smuggle 1,640 kilograms of cocaine throughout the southern U.S. Juarez was also charged in separate conspiracy to acquire firearms in order to further drug trafficking operations.
The video evidence condemning Juarez is extensive, according to officials. Last April, a recording surfaced of the former police officer selling firearms and sensitive information to government informants working undercover as drug traffickers.
Watch a report from the Houston Chronicle here:
In 2011, two separate videos surfaced showing Juarez taking part in illegal activities and selling assault rifles, while the second recorded him running license plates through the Houston Police Department database for an undercover informant. He revealed to the undercover informant plate numbers which belonged to those who owed him $800,000 in drug money.
Juarez’s co-defendant and nephew, Sergio Grimaldo, plead guilty last fall and has been cooperating with the prosecution against his uncle. According to recently released court documents, the convicted drug traffickers have been participating in the conspiracy to distribute cocaine from New York to Louisiana for roughly a decade.
The former officer not only provided critical materials and information to the Los Zetas Cartel, but allegedly tried to release Grimaldo from arrest by another officer.
Juarez was fired from the Houston Police Department following his arrest, but claimed to have no idea about his nephew’s involvement with the cartel. As the amount of undercover surveillance footage and co-conspirator testimony continues to grow, it seems that Juarez was indeed another cartel associate that infiltrated the police department.
According to newly released court documents, (see below) Juarez and Grimaldo have been participating in the conspiracy to distribute cocaine from New York to Louisiana since 2006.
Featured image via screen grab
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