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Jury convicts Texan of bribing federal agent

By Times Staff Writer
Published March 18, 2006

TAMPA - Fidencio Estrada wanted to know if he was being investigated for drugs. He wanted to know if there were any outstanding warrants in his name. He wanted help bringing his family to the United States. He wanted protection from law enforcement.

According to a federal jury, he paid for all of this with bribes.

The jurors found Estrada, 37, of Roma, Texas, guilty of bribing a federal agent and money laundering. He was convicted Thursday on 17 counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.

He will be sentenced June 23 and faced as much as 40 years in prison and $750,000 in fines.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Estrada paid at least $11,000 between December 1999 and 2000 to Rafael Francisco Pacheco Jr., who was a co-defendant. At the time, Pacheco was a U.S. Customs Service special agent operating out of Tampa who enforced federal narcotics and money laundering laws.

Estrada used other people to send the bribes using Western Union money transfers from Texas to Pacheco in Tampa, structuring the payments so Estrada's identity was concealed. In return, prosecutors said, Pacheco illegally used access to a restricted law enforcement database to see if Estrada was being investigated.

Pacheco also told several law enforcement officers that Estrada was an informant to get Estrada's family visas to enter the United States. Labeling Estrada an informant - which he was not - also shielded him from drug arrests.

Pacheco pleaded guilty Dec. 7 to all 27 counts against him, including conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, misusing a federal computer database and making false statements to federal law enforcement officers. He will be sentenced this month.

[Last modified March 18, 2006, 02:30:29]