DONNA PAIR IS CONVICTED

McALLEN - A federal jury Friday convicted former Donna police chief Marco
Abel Partida on five counts of aiding and abetting drug traffickers,
extortion and conspiracy. A co-defendant, former Donna police officer
Gerardo Vigil, 28, was found guilty of extortion but cleared of a
conspiracy charge.

An indictment handed up in November charged Vigil and Partida, 33, with
using patrol vehicles to escort what was believed to be hundreds of pounds
of marijuana through the city.

"This is not the end of the process," said Daniel Rodriguez, an assistant
U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case. "It's the beginning of what we're
trying to accomplish not only in the Valley, but in the whole southern
district of Texas ... hold people, and especially public officials,
accountable."

Both face as much as 40 years in prison and a $2 million dollar fine when
they are sentenced next Thursday.

The jury of six men and six women deliberated about 11 hours over two days.

Luis Singleterry, Vigil's defense attorney, said the conspiracy charge was
the more substantive of the two and that he will fight a poorly argued
extortion charge.

The case stems from two apparent drug vehicle escorts for Rigoberto
Quintanilla, a convicted drug dealer turned government informant.

Audio and video tapes played during testimony captured Quintanilla,
Partida, and later Vigil as they worked the deals, escorted what they
thought were loads, and met to count out their earnings.

After being indicted for trying to drive a tractor trailer carrying about
6,000 pounds of marijuana through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint,
Quintanilla agreed to work with the Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI.

He told agents he knows of police officers in the Rio Grande Valley willing
to accept bribes from drug dealers.