Page:United States v. Delgado (19-20697) (2021) Opinion.pdf/9

 Perez had with him $5,500 in cash inside a roughly one-inch thick envelope. Perez explained to Delgado that “I have this guy uh that needs a little help on. I charged him a pretty good chunk of change … I got $5,500 for you, you know um but it’s just a motion to revoke.” Perez expresses hope that Garza could “maybe get a bond or something tomorrow.” Perez then passes the envelope containing $5,500 in cash to Delgado.

Delgado tells Perez that he would “bring it up tomorrow” and asks Perez to write down the case number on a post-it note. Perez wrote down his name, Jose Garza’s name, and the case number. After discussing hunting for a moment, Perez tells Delgado that he would drop by court the next day “just to see if you can get that order out you know.” Delgado replied: “Yeah sounds good.” The next day, on January 18, 2018, Delgado released Jose Garza on a $5,000 PR bond.

On January 5, 2018, a blog entry was posted on the website anonymousrgv.com speculating that a judge in Hidalgo County had been indicted for bribery. Around the same time, an attorney in McAllen named Ernie Aliseda told Roberto Guerra (a Texas State Representative and attorney) that there was a federal investigation into Delgado for “something to do with the sale of wood.”

A couple of days after the conversation with Aliseda, Roberto Guerra called Juan Hinojosa (a Texas State Senator and attorney) to tell him about the investigation. Guerra told Hinojosa that he wondered if the investigation had something to do with a “mesh case” or “with selling firewood for inflated prices.”

On January 25, 2018, now aware of the possible investigation, Hinojosa texted Delgado to ask if he was “available for drinks.” The two initially met at a restaurant, but then went to Carlos Guerra’s house (no known relation to Roberto Guerra). There, Hinojosa informed Delgado of his