Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2013
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2013 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Dane Schiller

CARTEL DRUG STING GONE BAD SPURS LAWSUIT

The U.S. government and a ranking Drug Enforcement Administration 
official are being sued for up to $6.4 million over a bungled sting 
targeting a Mexican drug cartel that led to the death of a truck 
driver doubling as an informant.

The dead driver's former boss contends the DEA used his 18-wheel rig 
in the 2011 operation in Harris County without permission; refused to 
repair the bullet-riddled truck afterward; and subjected him and his 
family to unwarranted retaliation by the Zetas cartel, according to a 
lawsuit filed Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Houston.

The suit names the U.S. government, the DEA's Houston Division chief, 
Javier Pena, and Harris County Sheriff's Office Detective Mark 
Reynolds. As many as a dozen more law officers could be added to the 
suit, but the plaintiff's lawyers don't yet know their names because 
they were working undercover.

The DEA had no immediate comment, and the sheriff's office said in an 
email that it would not discuss the litigation "in the interest of justice."

After the November 2011 shooting it was revealed that truck driver 
Lawrence Chapa was also working for the government in an operation to 
take on the Zetas syndicate, based across the South Texas border.

During the daytime melee in which Chapa was killed, a Houston police 
officer on the task force shot and wounded a Harris County sheriff's 
deputy, who was on the scene in plainclothes.

The lawsuit could force authorities to reveal a trove of information 
regarding what Chapa was doing for the government in the days leading 
up to the attack, as well as why attackers targeted him.

"We are going to see how the sausage was made in this undercover 
operation, and I don't think they are going to like it," said Fred 
Shepherd, who filed the suit with fellow Houston lawyer Arnold Vickery.

For Craig Patty, the truck's owner, the shooting has been a nightmare 
that nearly pushed his small North Texas company out of business.

He said it has kept him and his family living in fear that the cartel 
would mistakenly believe that he, like Chapa, was working for the government.

Facts came out in court

Panic at the Patty home these days can be triggered by something as 
simple as a deer scampering through the wooded yard or a car pulling 
into the driveway, Patty has told the Chronicle. His children have 
grown up too quickly as a result of the DEA ordeal, Patty said.

"I've gone to great lengths to keep my son believing in Santa Claus," 
Patty said. "And now I'm talking to him about death, mayhem and drug cartels."

Back in 2011, Chapa was driving Patty's truck from the Rio Grande 
Valley to Houston as part of an operation to catch drug traffickers.

Chapa, 53, supposedly told Patty that he was taking the truck to 
Houston for repairs, when he was actually driving a load of marijuana 
to the border and back for the DEA.

Chapa was trailed by officers wearing civilian clothes and ready to 
move in and make a bust when he delivered his load.

But all were caught by surprise in northwest Harris County, when the 
truck was ambushed by gunmen in three vehicles and Chapa was shot to 
death in the truck's cab.

Four people are charged with capital murder in the case, but they 
have not yet gone to trial. When the four were initially brought 
before a magistrate, prosecutors publicly confirmed that Chapa was an 
informant.

The suit contends that Chapa had an extensive criminal record, but 
the DEA manipulated a Department of Transportation background check 
so that he would look clean and be hired by Patty.

No recourse for damage

Just days before the attack, which authorities have said was about 
hijacking a load of pot instead of killing an informant, one of the 
men now charged in the case was stopped by Pasadena police as he left 
a stash house.

Eric De Luna was released after police confiscated $5,600 he was 
carrying, according to court papers. At the time, De Luna was already 
out on bail while awaiting trial in assault with a deadly weapon.

As asserted in the lawsuit: "To add insult to injury, when the 
government's plans went awry, and Patty's commercial truck was 
riddled with bullet holes, wrecked, and his driver killed ... instead 
of apologizing to a lawabiding citizen and paying for the damage to 
his property and his business, the government, which had betrayed 
him, actually turned on him."

Patty's insurance company declined to fix the truck on the grounds 
that it was used in a crime, and the government declined to make it right.

So Patty, whose company has only two trucks, took the repair money 
from his 401(k) retirement account.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom