DRUG TASK FORCE LEADER ACCUSED OF SELLING PROTECTION

Indictments Say Agent And Partner Extorted Thousands From Traffickers

HARLINGEN - The deputy commander of a counter-narcotics task force in
Laredo and a suspected accomplice allegedly extorted tens of
thousands of dollars from drug traffickers, shielded them from other
agents and gave them a place to store cocaine, according to a federal
indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

Julio Alfonso Lopez, 45, of Zapata, was scheduled to appear before a
federal magistrate today.

FBI agents arrested Lopez on Tuesday. His alleged accomplice, Meliton
Valadez, 32, also of Zapata, was arrested Wednesday.

Lopez is accused of accepting four bribes totalling $44,500 from
Veladez -- allegedly a middleman for drug traffickers -- in 2005, the
indictment said.

"Although this is certainly not a proud moment for law enforcement in
general, it does nevertheless underscore the commitment of good men
and women to police themselves," said Don DeGabrielle, the U.S.
attorney in Houston.

The Lopez arrest was "extremely disappointing" to longtime Webb
County District Attorney Joe Rubio, whose office funds and oversees
the multi-agency drug task force, a spokeswoman said.

Rubio "was sorry to hear this," district attorney spokeswoman Monica
Perales-Garcia said. "Of course, we're going to cooperate fully. Mr.
Lopez has been relieved of his duties."

Perales-Garcia confirmed that Lopez is the brother of former Zapata
County Attorney Joe Lopez, who recently won the Democratic nomination
as judge of the 49th State District Court in Laredo. The judge could
not be reached by phone at his office late Wednesday.

Julio Lopez, a former investigator for the Zapata county attorney's
office, was hired by the Laredo Multi-Agency Narcotics Taskforce in
January 2005, Perales-Garcia said.

Norman Townsend, the agent in charge of the FBI office in Laredo,
said the arrests were the "culmination of a yearlong investigation by the FBI."

FBI director John Mueller "has made combating public corruption at
all levels one of the top priorities of the FBI ... so we have a
considerable number of agents working on public corruption matters,
especially down on the border," Townsend said. Townsend said the
corruption inquiry is ongoing.