One Pardon Isn't Enough for the Family Business

Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar appeared in federal court Thursday to answer charges that he transformed his law enforcement office into a personal profit center during the pandemic. The five-term sheriff faces allegations of conspiracy, theft of federal funds, and money laundering stemming from a scheme prosecutors say ran for more than two years.

According to federal prosecutors, Cuellar and his assistant chief, Alejandro Gutierrez, launched Disinfect Pro Master in April 2020. The company entered into service agreements with local businesses and restaurants despite possessing neither employees nor supplies of its own. The sheriff's office became a de facto staffing agency and equipment warehouse for the private venture.

Webb County deputies handled operations from inside the sheriff's office, collecting schedules and equipment before conducting disinfecting services on county time and resources. The arrangement secured a $500,000 contract with the United Independent School District. County employees fulfilled the work. County supplies cleaned the schools. The profits belonged to Cuellar and his associates.

With minimal overhead and maximum exploitation of public resources, the business allegedly generated approximately $525,000 in profits. Cuellar, Gutierrez, and former assistant chief Ricardo Rodriguez each received roughly $175,000. Prosecutors contend Cuellar used proceeds to purchase property in Laredo, triggering the money laundering charge.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing in March. His cooperation with federal investigators presumably contributed to the charges now confronting his former superiors.

Cuellar's attorney, Eric Reed, insisted his client maintained complete ignorance of any misconduct. The defense portrays the sheriff as an unwitting participant in a scheme orchestrated by subordinates. Reed characterized the case as one that should have expired naturally, suggesting political motivations drove the prosecution's persistence.

The timing certainly invites scrutiny. Federal prosecutors secured the indictment against Martin Cuellar in November 2025, one month before President Donald Trump pardoned the sheriff's brother, Congressman Henry Cuellar, on separate federal corruption charges. The congressman and his wife had faced allegations of accepting approximately $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani state-owned oil company and a Mexico City bank, allegedly laundered through shell companies and fictitious consulting contracts.

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina said the indictment should surprise no one. He invoked the term many locals use: the Cuellar Crime Syndicate. For Tijerina, who left the Democratic Party in 2024, the back-to-back indictments prove that accountability is catching up to a family long shielded by its name.

If convicted, Cuellar faces up to ten years for conspiracy and theft of federal funds, plus an additional decade for money laundering. Financial penalties could reach $250,000, or twice the value of the property involved in the real estate transaction.

Martin Cuellar secured reelection to his fifth term in 2024, continuing an uninterrupted tenure since 2009. His political longevity mirrors his brother's eleven consecutive congressional terms.

Martin Cuellar built a substantial law enforcement career independent of his brother's political ascent. He started as a security guard before becoming a sheriff's deputy, then joined the Texas Department of Public Safety where he advanced from trooper to narcotics investigator and eventually lieutenant of the Narcotics Division. By the time he won his first election as Webb County Sheriff in 2008, he had accumulated over two decades of experience in Texas law enforcement, establishing credentials that existed apart from the Cuellar family's growing political influence in South Texas.

That parallel success relied partly on compulsory political participation, including allegations that deputies were bused to San Antonio to block-walk for his brother and pressured to purchase fundraiser tickets.

The FBI searched the sheriff's office in 2023. Federal prosecutors subsequently scrutinized at least one business entity registered to the sheriff. The Laredo Border Corruption Task Force conducted the investigation.

Cuellar posted bond following Thursday's appearance and maintains his innocence. His assistant chief faces identical exposure to ten years imprisonment and $250,000 in fines. Both men entered not guilty pleas.

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