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Bondsman to plead guilty in Limas corruption case
Posted: 08.08.2011 at 11:15 AM
Updated: 08.08.2011 at 1:30 PM
Sergio Chapa

Sergio is KGBT's Interactive Manager and a reporter for VALLEYCENTRAL.COM.

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A Cameron County bondsman had pleaded guilty to his role in the Abel Limas cash for judicial favors case.

Francisco Cisneros appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville late Monday morning.

Cisneros pleaded guilty to his role in ongoing corruption case involving Limas, a former judge with the 404th State District Court.\

Sentencing for Cisneros is expected to take place on November 14th.

A federal grand jury indicted Cisneros back in June with conspiracy to extort under color of official right as well as aiding and abetting extortion under color of official right.

According to a plea agreement, Cisneros paid former 404th Limas $700 dollars a personal recognizance bond to an acquaintance back in January 2008.

The acquaintance was identified as Roberto Garcia, a Cameron County man who had been convicted in a 2003 cocaine case and got probation.

Garcia allegedly violated the terms of his probation and was supposed to go back to jail.

Cisneros admitted to charging Garcia $4,000 dollars to get Limas to give him a personal recognizance bond where he just needed a signature to get out of jail.

According to the plea agreement, middleman Jose Manuel Longoria allegedly  negotiated the deal with Limas’ wife Genevieve.

Then-judge Limas went to a local daycare to pick up the money from Cisneros.

Cisneros is among seven publicly named suspects in the case.

Court records have linked an attorney in Austin and another in Brownsville to the case but they have not been publicly named or charged in the case.

SuspectRoleChargedGuilty PleaSentencing
     
Abel LimasJudgeMarch 29thMarch 31stOctober 3rd
Jose Manuel LongoriaMiddlemanMarch 30thN/AN/A
Jose Santiago SolisAttorneyApril 29th*April 29th*October 12th
Ray Roman MarchanAttorneyJune 21stN/AN/A
Francisco CisnerosBondsmanJune 21stAugust 8thNovember 14th
Armando PeñaProbationerJune 21stJuly 19thOctober 24th
Karina PeñaWifeJune 21stJuly 26thOctober 31st
     

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