Woman headed to prison after spending 25 years on the run
Posted: 01.15.2013 at 6:34 PM

Angelita Treviño spent 25 years on the run after being sentenced in a federal drug trafficking case in Brownsville back in 1987.

But authorities found her some 400 miles away just outside Galveston where she had been using a fake name and even owned a home.

The 69-year-old woman appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen in Brownsville on Tuesday morning.

Federal Case

Both Treviño and her brother Roberto Trevino-Salinas were indicted in a federal heroin case back in 1986.

Both of them were given bond and both of them failed to appear in court.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Treviño-Salinas back in 2002 but they kept the charges against Treviño.

Court records show that Treviño had already been sentenced to four years in federal prison.

But a judge had allowed her to remain on bond and surrender to the U.S. Marshals once her prison assignment was made.

Records show that the never appeared to serve her sentence.

Galveston Connection

Major Ray Tuttoilmondo with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spoke with Action 4 News about the case.

Tuttoilmondo said deputies were called to a home off 17th Street in San Leon, a small Galveston County community on the mainland.

Treviño was going by the name Angelita Weeks and even owned a house in San Leon.

Tuttoilmondo said Treviño was a landlord and involved in a dispute with a tenant when deputies arrived.

Deputies noticed that her Texas identification card was a fake and quickly learned her true identity.

Tuttoilmundo said the number on the identication card came back to another person with a different date of birth.

Deputies arrested Treviño on a forgery of a government instrument charge.

A state district judge dropped the charge down to failure to identify where she was sentenced her to 12 days in jail.

Back In Brownsville

Deputies turned Treviño back over to federal authorities for extradition back to Brownsville after her sentence was completed in Galveston.

Treviño made her first appearance in Brownsville's federal court back in December.

But she appeared before Judge Hanen on Tuesday morning where she pleaded guilty to the bail jumping charge.

Judge Hanen sentenced her to 60 days in federal prison for the charge.

But records show Treviño must serve that sentence concurrently with the four-year sentence in the heroin case.

Family Reacts

Treviño's younger sister Umbelina Cremer wrote to Action 4 News about the court case.

Cremer said Weeks was her sister's married name.

"Angelita never got a fair trial," Cremer wrote. "She is a victim in all this mess!"

Cremer said the family is looking for an attorney who can reopen the 1986 case and prove that her sister is not guilty.