SUSPECT FREED AFTER ACCOUNT OF FORCED PHOTO IN SOMBRERO

RALEIGH -- A Raleigh-based Drug Enforcement Administration agent made
a Hispanic suspect put on a sombrero and hold a Mexican flag and then
took his picture, the suspect's attorney said.

The defense attorney, Jeff Cutler, said a prosecutor and law
enforcement officers confirmed the existence of the 2005 photograph
of Jorge Hernandez-Villalvazo during a pre-trial meeting last week.
Within minutes, the prosecutor offered a plea deal, avoiding a trial
and freeing Hernandez-Villalvazo.

Hernandez-Villalvazo left the Wake County jail Friday, two years
after his arrest on a charge of conspiring to traffic cocaine. "They
humiliated him," Cutler said.

Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby, whose office handled the
case, said the photo was a mistake. "It shouldn't have happened," he
said. DEA officials on Wednesday would not identify the agent or
release the photo. No cocaine was seized from Hernandez-Villalvazo,
Cutler said. He said his client turned down a previous plea deal for
a three-to four-year sentence because he was innocent.