“Hearing a former judge in his own words appeared enough for jurors to find him guilty of accepting bribes and attempting to cover his tracks once he learned of an investigation against him,” reported The Monitor, McAllen’s main newspaper.
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours and unanimously found former state District Judge Rodolfo “Rudy” Delgado guilty of taking bribes from an Edinburg attorney, who became a government informant. The judge was also found guilty of a cover up operation once it became clear that federal agents were investigating the bribery scheme.
To show you how little Rio Grande Valley Democrats care about their endemic problem of corrupt officials, including judges and police, those voters elected Delgado to Place 4 on the Texas 13th Court of Appeals whilst all of this was going on.
Delgado was suspended as a justice on the appeals court immediately after having been invested into office, or “sworn in,” and because of the suspension still retains the appellate justice seat and is collecting his salary from taxpayers. Hopefully the conviction will put an end to this but might have to wait until sentencing in September or maybe even appeal.
“The bribery of a judge may be the worst break of the publics’ trust in government,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas said in a news release Thursday. “Rudy Delgado used his position to enrich himself. He didn’t just tip the scales of justice, he knocked it over with a wad of cash and didn’t look back. Delgado’s actions unfairly tarnish all his former colleagues.”
It all seems par for Rio Grande Valley Democrats.
Glad to read this piece in the Buffalo Gap News. I am a proud Winter Texan who winters in the RGV. What I am not proud of….and it’s good to hear others say the same thing…is the rampant corruption of so many people who are elected/appointed to positions of trust in government, law enforcement and education. Because of this, while I love Texas and would consider living in the state permanently, it would NEVER be in the RGV. Who does one go to or confide in or put trust in if a serious life problem occurs? It’s so sad.
That corruption attitude seems to exist mostly along the Rio Grande. It is not common in most other parts of the state.