Prosecutors allege that paralegal tipped off drug cartel
Christine Hauser
Just before they were raided by federal agents, drug dealers in San Antonio affiliated with a Mexican cartel moved their stockpiles of heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. They had been warned in advance: A paralegal in the federal prosecutor’s office tipped them off, authorities said.
Court filings in Texas describe a career path that took Jennifer Loya, 30, from a low-level post in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Antonio to a promotion in February to paralegal, a position that prosecutors said she turned into an inside job helping a network of Cartel del Noreste associates stay a step ahead of authorities.
As part of her new job, Loya was given access to records and reports about investigations, raids and surveillance, according to a complaint filed this month in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. She is suspected of “disclosing sensitive law enforcement information” to drug-trafficking organizations in the San Antonio area, it says.
She was arrested last Friday and has been charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine as well as obstruction of justice. She has a preliminary hearing Thursday.
Court documents say that in 2018, federal drug enforcement agents started investigating Israel Fernandez-Vasquez, a member of the Cartel del Noreste who was deported in 2018 from the United States.
Prosecutors allege that Fernandez-Vasquez funnels cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin from northern Mexico into the United States, particularly in the San Antonio area, where he maintains a “complex network” of distributors and dealers.
According to the documents, one of those people is Roland Gustamante, who is married to Loya’s sister, Kimberly Loya. Gustamante would coordinate the smuggling of drugs from Monterrey, Mexico, in pickup trucks across the border to Laredo, Texas, where “random people” would be paid $1,000 to take the drugs to San Antonio.
Kimberly Loya smuggled the drug money across the border into Mexico using a white Mitsubishi — its tires, transmission and oil pans stuffed with cash — 21 times between last May and January, the complaint says. It also accuses her of ferrying large quantities of drugs around the San Antonio area.
She was arrested last Friday on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking.
Relatives of the Loya sisters could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Gustamante was arrested last Thursday on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking, a complaint says.
He will have a bond hearing Thursday, his lawyer said.