ACCUSED MEZA FAMILY MEMBERS PLEAD NOT GUILTY

McALLEN -- Accused members of a family run drug-trafficking
organization appeared before a federal magistrate Monday, pleading
not guilty to nine felony charges in connection with transporting
cocaine and marijuana across the Rio Grande.

The men -- [Names redacted], all of Mission -- were arrested
Wednesday and are charged with a nine-count sealed federal indictment
alleging they participated in a smuggling ring that ran drugs across
the river south of Mission.

The brothers appeared with their defense attorneys in front of U.S.
Magistrate Peter Ormsby as federal prosecutors requested that the men
be held without bond until their June 6 trial, set in U.S. District
Judge Randy 's court.

Ormsby granted the government's request to deny bond for Jesus
Lorenzo Meza, an Edinburg police officer who was taken into custody
while on duty, and his brother [Name redacted]. [Name redacted], 27,
of Mission -- one of three non-family members charged in the
indictment -- will also remain in federal custody until the trial.

Ormsby will continue a detention hearing today for the organization's
accused leader, [Name redacted], as well as [Name redacted] and [Name
redacted].

Two other men also charged in the indictment -- [Name redacted], 41
and [Name redacted], 24, also of Mission -- appeared in front of
Ormsby as well, but had not obtained an attorney. They are scheduled
to reappear on Wednesday.

During the detention hearing, Drug Enforcement Agent Special Agent
Anthony Dominguez, who began investigating the organization in 1996,
testified the men worked closely with their associates in Mexico to
transport about 15,000 pounds of marijuana and 500 kilos of cocaine
since July 1998. Agents conducted surveillance on the group and
recorded more than 2,000 telephone conversations in the course of
their investigation.

"This investigation involved a group that was primarily responsible
for smuggling marijuana and cocaine across the Rio Grande, south of
Mission," he said.

Those contacts in Mexico could provide them protection if released, he said.

Jesus Meza provided "counter surveillance." alerting his brothers
when law enforcement approached, Dominguez testified.

The organization used tubes, rafts, floating devices and boats to
cross the drugs across the river, while some of the men acted as
lookouts. When needed, the group used "agressive" interference
tactics to steer law enforcement away from following vehicles
carrying the drugs, even running them off the road, Dominguez said.

Dominguez also told the court two men came to the Edinburg Police
Department's municipal jail on Sunday looking for Jesus Meza and his
brother in a restricted area. Edinburg Police Chief Quirino Munoz
confirmed that two men had questioned a jailer, but left after they
were informed Jesus Meza was not at the department.

"They weren't here in a threatening matter," Munoz said.

The indictment returned by a grand jury in November 2005 remains
sealed by court order. According to a U.S. attorney's press release,
the men are all charged with conspiring to import drugs into the
United States and to possess with intent to distribute more than five
kilograms of cocaine and more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana over
a seven-year period beginning around July 1998.

If convicted of the conspiracy offenses, the men face 10 years to
life imprisonment without parole and a $4 million fine.

In the remaining eight counts of the indictment, they are accused of
possessing with intent to distribute hundreds of kilograms of
marijuana on eight separate instances from June 2001 through November
2003. The alleged marijuana loads varied in size from approximately
271 kilograms in January 2001 to as large as 1,485 kilograms in
October 2003, the press release states.