ETA the link:
http://www.click2houston.com/news/m...-deaths-of-adriana-coronado-father-police-say
I'm annoyed, too. Here's a quote from that link that makes no sense, "her father’s body was
found burned inside a pickup truck." Um, no, that's not what happened here. (I have alerted KPRC)
Also, the article states, "Caesar made an alleged drug run from
Laredo to Mexico in October." That's not right, right? Why is he running drugs to Mexico? I thought they were moving from Mexico to the US. (I have alerted KPRC)
One last thing ... how does this make sense? No charges for $48K, but $1K gets you a charge?
* "more than
$1,020 in cash was found inside Solis’ home during the search, according to the search warrant affidavit. The items found led investigators to believe Solis was involvement in a
major drug ring."
* "Solis believes Caesar stole
$48,000 in cash that was seized by officials as Caesar made an alleged drug run from Laredo to Mexico in October. Police found the cash in the rear driver’s door of the vehicle Caesar was driving. He was not arrested at the time because officials said the amount of cash “
did not meet the threshold for prosecution” the affidavit read."
Yah, Houston, we have some problems in the article.
That's one reason I prefer to read the original documents themselves.
I don't think the $1,020 found at Solis' house is truly a factor in determining that he was part of a drug trafficking operation. Use of the word "major" is a subjective thing, although I suspect that Solis (and Coronado) are in fact connected to "major" drug trafficking operations.
You don't move drugs through Laredo without the blessing of them that control the plaza. Not unless you intend to get killed or start a war. Or both.
Solis was already a target in a DEA investigation prior to the murders for other reasons as stated in the federal criminal complaint affidavit. I'm rechurning the information contained in it.
Here's how KTRK described the October 2015 events as presumably laid out in the search warrant affidavit:
Last October, federal agents seized 16 kilograms of cocaine from a bus and $48,000 from Coronado at the Mexican border and the affidavit suggests Solis became suspicious that Cesar Coronado was involved.
http://abc13.com/news/documents-reveal-horrific-details-in-teens-brutal-murder/1356215/
The cocaine was on the bus and Coronado was "at the border" with $48,000.
The money generally flows south.
Going only from these two articles and without seeing the affidavit itself, I would guess Coronado was a money mule on his way to make a payment.
As far as the "threshold" for arrest thing....
Well, I gotta wonder if Solis (and possibly whoever his boss is/was) wasn't partially right about something about Coronado.
If I'm conducting an investigation/operation (that may possibly be part of a larger investigation/operation possibly not limited to within the US) and I have picked up a money mule headed south, I just might be inclined not to arrest him if I can utilize him to lead to bigger player(s).
And so it goes.
Not really enough information revealed for me to stake a solid opinion about that, but I think it is safe to say that red flags were up immediately in a lot of places the minute it was known that Cesar Coronado and his daughter were missing.
I suspect the criminal complaint and arrests of Solis and Sanchez came much earlier than the original plan for wherever that investigation/operation was trying to go with regard to those two.
Their arrests became an immediate necessity, though, due to the kidnapping and murder of an innocent child in the US.
I'm hoping that after I get this typed and posted I'll be able to locate the search warrant affidavit online or at least a reasonably comprehensive article from the Chronicle.
In a way, there are two stories here, one being a state investigation into two murders, including a teenage girl.
The other being a federal narcotics investigation that is probably very complex and by their nature best kept as secretative as possible until the indictments and arrests come down.
Even then, the nuts and bolts of the investigations are usually no more spelled out than is necessary to get indictments, pass muster in the court, get convictions (most federal cases plead out rather than go to trial) and turn a defendant or two (or three, or...) and head off for the next round.
Two stories that are really a single story.
A story that contains factors not usually so obviously present here in the USA.
ETA: Added some thoughts around the descriptor "major."
sweet innocent little girl murdered for no reason.
