Constable candidate arrested with $1M in car trunk

A former state trooper who was seeking election to the Precinct 1 constable’s seat was arrested Monday on money laundering charges after law enforcement officers found more than $1 million packed inside suitcases stored in his car’s trunk.

Robert “Bobby” Maldonado, a 46-year-old Mercedes resident in the midst of a second campaign for the constable’s seat, was arrested during a traffic stop Monday afternoon on U.S. 59 in Victoria County, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger. Once a K-9 alerted on Maldonado’s Chrysler 200, a search produced the luggage containing more than 100 bundles of cash.

Maldonado remained jailed late Tuesday after a Victoria County judge set his bond on the money laundering charge at $250,000. But a law enforcement source familiar with an ongoing investigation said further charges could come for Maldonado, who was under surveillance by federal agencies that suspected him of acting as a money courier for a Mexican drug cartel.

The arrest comes as Maldonado bids for the Mid-Valley constable’s seat a second time after garnering nearly 35 percent of the vote in 2008. Maldonado is one of two candidates who filed in December to run against the seat’s incumbent, Celestino Avila.

Maldonado did not return a phone call placed to his cellphone Tuesday.

An arrest report from the Victoria County Sheriff’s Office prepared following Monday’s 3 p.m. traffic stop provides little insight into any ongoing federal investigation involving Maldonado.

The state trooper who stopped Maldonado for speeding asked to search the vehicle after the 46-year-old appeared nervous and supplied implausible and contradictory travel plans, the arrest report states. When Maldonado denied permission, a K-9 unit was dispatched to the scene that later alerted officers to luggage inside the trunk.

Inside, troopers found 108 bundles of U.S. cash wrapped and concealed in a manner consistent with drug trafficking, the report says. Maldonado was arrested and later taken to the Victoria County Jail where he was booked early Tuesday on the money laundering charge.

But the law enforcement source indicated that federal agencies had been investigating Maldonado for nearly two years on suspicion he acted as a courier for a cartel.

Federal agents followed him to South Carolina where he was suspected of picking up the $1 million in cash, the law enforcement source said. When federal agents lost track of Maldonado in Houston, they asked for assistance from South Texas law enforcement agencies that resulted in the traffic stop near Victoria.

Law enforcement suspect Maldonado was funneling some cash from the trips toward his and other political campaigns.

Maldonado, who has often been seen campaigning at Mid-Valley pachangas and other political events, currently has a 2012 campaign website, though most of its sections are incomplete other than the financial contribution page. But the Hidalgo County Elections Department has no record of Maldonado filing a campaign finance report or appointing a campaign treasurer.

It’s a Class A misdemeanor in Texas to accept campaign contributions or make expenditures without an appointed treasurer.

Maldonado is making his second bid for Precinct 1 constable after pushing Avila to a runoff four years ago. Maldonado was hit in that campaign’s waning days with questions about his law enforcement background.

Maldonado presented campaign literature then that included his picture in a state trooper’s uniform. Five days before the runoff election, a DPS spokeswoman confirmed Maldonado had been fired as a state trooper after facing charges of aggravated assault in 1994.

Maldonado was accused at the time of forcing his way into a Sweetwater apartment where he pointed a gun at a man who was with his estranged wife. The charges against him, however, were eventually dismissed and his law enforcement license never suspended.

Maldonado worked as a narcotics officer for the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office for four years before resigning in August 2007. His Sheriff’s Office personnel file indicated there were no disciplinary actions against him and gave no reason for his resignation.

In his 2008 campaign, Maldonado said he wanted the constable’s office to increase night patrols, organize community watches and make K-9s available to sniff school lockers and deter juveniles from drug use.

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and legislative issues for The Monitor. He can be reached at jjanes@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4424.

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Jared Taylor covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at jtaylor@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4439.

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