Ex-Dallas police officer sentenced in nightclub drug conspiracy case with Fort Worth ties
A former Dallas police officer will spend 30 months in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty to obstructing an FBI investigation, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Eddie Villarreal, 53, pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to the FBI while they were investigating club promoter Marvin “Chava” Rodriguez, and was sentenced and given a fine of $10,000 by U.S. District Judge Same Lindsay, according to the release.
“This is not what a police officer is supposed to do. It is the opposite,” Lindsay said at sentencing. “When that trust is broken, a police officer must be held accountable, that’s the bottom line.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said Villarreal began his obstruction when in April 2014 he answered a call from Rodriguez, who told him he suspected law enforcement was following him. He actually was being tailed by the FBI, and Villarreal found the FBI vehicle and pulled it over.
He confirmed the occupants were FBI and introduced himself as a Dallas police officer, offering to help with the investigation into Rodriguez, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He later admitted that he actually wanted to learn more about the investigations so he could share the information with Rodriguez and Alfredo Hinojosa, the owner of a string of nightclubs including the Fort Worth nightclub OK Corral and the Dallas club Far West.
Hinojosa and Rodriguez were later convicted of a “massive drug conspiracy,” according to the Justice Department’s news release.
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The officer also provided information to the FBI to deflect attention from Hinojosa, like information about a person dealing cocaine out of nightclub bathrooms, the Justice Department said. The day after he shared that information, he got a call from the FBI telling him about a grand jury investigation to Rodriguez and others.
According to the Justice Department, Villarreal visited Hinojosa at his office and told him about the investigation and its targets. Villarreal told Hinojosa he could get in trouble if law enforcement found out he was helping the nightclub magnate.
When Hinojosa learned the nightclubs might be under surveillance, he said he wanted to “tighten down” on drug sales in club bathrooms, according to the release.
The Justice Department said FBI agents reached out to Villarreal in May 2015 and asked if he told anybody about the grand jury investigation or the traffic stop involving Rodriguez. He told them he hadn’t and, five months later, resigned from the department.
Hinojosa and Rodriguez are facing up to life in federal prison after they were convicted in a trial for the drug conspiracy, according to the Justice Department. Craig Woods, a former Dallas police colleague of Villarreal, was one of 30 people convicted in connection with the case, as well.