Four months into his sentence in the United States, a federal judge in Mexico issued a third arrest warrant against Tomás Yarrington, for allegedly acquiring a yacht, three ranches and an island in Veracruz, among other assets, with bribe money from the Gulf Cartel.
Raquel Duarte Cedillo, Second District Judge in Federal Criminal Proceedings in Toluca, issued the new arrest warrant for organized crime, for the purpose of committing crimes against health, and money laundering, in the form of acquiring various properties through a third party, according to court reports.
On March 15, 2023, a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, sentenced the former Governor of Tamaulipas to 9 years in prison. For good behavior, his sentence was reduced by 15 percent and he will complete it on November 9.
However, according to prison records, he was released from the Thomson Penitentiary in Illinois on July 3 and was reportedly transferred to another penitentiary, although his location is currently unknown.
In the new arrest, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) accuses the former President of having purchased Frontón Island, located off the coast of Veracruz, with drug money, through an alleged front man identified as Antonio Peláez Pier.
He is also accused of acquiring three other ranches, rustic properties, a yacht and 3,500 household goods from said properties with the illicit money, according to the reports that were accessed.
Peláez Pier, whom the Attorney General’s Office points to as an alleged front man, is a businessman who two decades ago was the owner of the Gallos Blancos de Tampico Madero, a soccer club that later changed its headquarters to the city of Querétaro.
The preliminary investigation from which this judicial order derives has as its starting point the statements of the protected witness “Ángeles”, who revealed a list of 14 alleged front men that Yarrington had used to acquire real estate companies, hunting ranches, airplanes, newspapers and radio stations.
“Ángeles” is actually the businessman Antonio Peña Argüelles, arrested in February 2012 in San Antonio, accused of money laundering and being the link between Yarrington and the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas. After pleading guilty, he was released in 2014.
In fact, this is the collaborating witness who revealed to the FGR the alleged purchase of Frontón Island.
“The deeds are in the name of Antonio Peláez, since I know that today said Isla Frontón is still in the name of Antonio Peláez, although the owner is Tomás Yarrington, since due to the fact that Tomás found out that Isla Frontón was owned by members of the García Ábrego cartel, things remained unchanged and that is why Antonio Peláez continues to appear as the owner, when in reality the owner is Tomás Yarrington,” declared “Ángeles.”
Some of the alleged front men that “Ángeles” pointed out to the FGR are Fernando Cano Martínez, Eduardo Rodríguez Berlanga “La Conga”, Gabriel Maldonado Pumarejo, Alfredo Pérez Salinas, Alfredo Sandoval Musi and Manuel Montiel Govea, the latter two former members of the Yarrington government.
Some of them were persecuted by justice in the past, but they cleared the charges.
With the new arrest warrant, once he is deported to Mexico, the FGR will execute three arrest warrants against the Tamaulipas native, one for crimes against health and two for money laundering, including the one already mentioned.
The first arrest warrant against the former Governor was issued on August 8, 2012 and in it he is accused of crimes against health, for alleged links to the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas.
The second was issued in 2017 for alleged laundering of 12.7 million pesos and 450 thousand dollars.
The third, previously mentioned, was requested on January 22 by the FGR, based on a preliminary investigation initiated on January 7, 2009.
On January 31, Judge Duarte decided to return the file and duplicate of the criminal case to the FGR “to correct various existing deficiencies” and the “irregularities” found in the request for an arrest warrant.
The Prosecutor’s Office made the necessary corrections and recently resumed criminal action, now getting the judge to issue the arrest warrant.
Yarrington was arrested on April 9, 2017 in Florence, Italy, and extradited on April 20, 2019 to the United States, where he was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Source: eldiariodedelicias
