Ex-HPD cop gets 30-year sentence
Feds say officer provided guns, information to cartel for years
A disgraced former Houston policeman was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for using his badge to provide guns, body armor and sensitive law enforcement information to criminals connected to the Zetas drug cartel.
Noe Juarez was convicted in New Orleans in January in a federal drug conspiracy case that included secretly recorded video of him making deals while in uniform outside a Houston night club where he was in charge of security.
He was caught selling guns and other gear out of the trunk of his police cruiser. “The cartel’s efforts to infiltrate law enforcement are not limited to Mexico,” said Stephen Azzam, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New Orleans. “They want to do it here as well and we can’t let them.”
He said Juarez’s actions “unfairly tarnishes the proud reputation of law enforcement,” and vowed to continue to go after any other officers who join cartel ranks.
Juarez, a former Marine who was a police officer for more than 20 years, was accused of having been in the pockets of the traffickers for years. Investigators captured video of him meeting with a female government informant posing as a trafficker. She pulled a four-door pickup up to the front of the club and spoke with Juarez, who placed
a military style rifle with a scope on the backseat of the vehicle. Juarez seemed at ease during the interaction and did not appear to be taking any efforts to disguise what he was doing.
The case began back in 2006 during a probe by the DEA of a street gang named, “Up Da Bayou Boyz.” The drugs moved through New Orleans.
Brothers Efrain and Sergio Grimaldo, of Mexico, ran the ring and distributed thousands of pounds of Zetas cocaine before they were captured and prosecuted.
According to authorities, some of the firearms provided by Juarez ended up in the hands of senior cartel leaders in Mexico.
Houston lawyer George Murphy had contended Juarez, his client, did not know he was dealing with drug traffickers.
The DEA was joined in the case by an array of agencies including the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“This prosecution is the result of significant collaboration by local, state and federal agencies across Louisiana and Texas,” said Kenneth Polite, the chief federal prosecutor in New Orleans. “Their collective work ensures that a crooked cop will now spend over 30 years in prison for pouring more illegal guns and drugs into our streets.”
The drug pipeline also reached Florida, New York, Michigan, Delaware and other U.S. states.