Did a Travis County Constable Accept “Cocaine Blood Money”?
A mailer circulated in May accused Travis County Constable Adan Ballesteros of accepting cocaine blood money. Photo by Images_of_Money, flickr.com/59937401@N07.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Some Travis County voters got a mailer before the May Democratic primary accusing Constable Adan Ballesteros of accepting cocaine blood money. KUT’s Nathan Bernier spoke with Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman’s political reporting team about how this claim rates on PolitiFact’s Truth-O-Meter.
Selby said the mailer calls Ballesteros “a corrupt politician who accepted more than $15,000 in cocaine blood money.”
He was a DPS officer for years, and at one time was involved using a Mexican informant to indeed ferry drugs under watch of federal and state agencies into the United States presumably to build cases against drug kingpins. And at one point the DPS concluded in an investigation, he accepted more than $15,000 from this informant. The blood money part of this is the assumption that those were drug money proceeds.
Ballersteros disputes that account, and the courts have agreed with him, Selby said.
He was not indicted. Also, the state upheld his unemployment appeal saying there was not a preponderance of evidence that he had broken any laws.
Check PolitiFact’s story for more details and their final ruling on the mailer’s claim.
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