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October 11, 2017
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October 11, 2017
The wife of an alleged drug smuggler has filed suit against Terrebonne Parish, its sheriff and his agency alleging that mistreatment and failure to properly care for him while in custody led to his eventual death of natural causes at a local hospital.
Sheriff Jerry Larpenter maintains that his jailers did nothing wrong and that he plans to vigorously defend against the suit, filed last week at federal court in New Orleans.
Jose Hinojosa was arrested in November with five other men in connection with a lengthy investigation of tractor-trailers carrying cocaine hidden in garden mulch shipments.
“The lawsuit says he was working a job trying to get Christmas presents for his family,” Larpenter said. “The only thing he was doing was bringing snow to Terrebonne Parish, the kind of snow that kills .”
The “snow” was a street reference to the cocaine seized from the trucks.
Court papers allege that Hinojosa was working for a contractor named Adrian Robles in Denham Springs, repairing homes damaged by flooding from the previous summer.
“He took the job to make extra money to have a good Christmas for his children and grandchildren whom he was supporting at the time,” the court papers state.
On Nov. 28, the suit alleges, Robles asked Hinojosa and his nephew, Jose Hinojosa, to accompany him on a trip. Ultimately they arrived in Terrebonne Parish, a place the suit says had never been visited by Hinojosa before.
“When they arrived in the parking lot in Terrebonne Parish on Nov. 29 they were all arrested and Mr. Hinojosa was placed in the custody of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s office,” court papers state. “Apparently, a large quantity of drugs was found in Mr. Robles’ truck, but Jesus had no knowledge of the presence of the drugs.”
At the time of his arrest, the litigation alleges, Hinojosa suffered from medical conditions that required “serious medical care, proper diet and medications.”
Jail officials, the suit says, knew of Hinojosa’s ill health and that they were further informed through numerous phone calls from his wife, Georgina.
While in custody, on or around Feb. 3, the suit alleges, Hinojosa was injured at the jail. Although the suit does not give specifics of this it alleges that failure of deputies to properly supervise inmates was the cause. Hinojosa, the suit alleges, did not receive needed medical care for four days after his injury was inflicted.
He was taken to Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, according to court papers, and he died there on March 1. According to the complaint, Hinojosa’s wife was not informed that he was languishing at the hospital and so never got a chance to see him there.
Larpenter has balked at the suit, questioning why he or his department is named at all, since Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government is in charge of health care for inmates at the jail.
The arrests cited in the suit made headlines when they occurred.
More than 44 pounds of cocaine were seized in connection with the operation, Sheriff’s Office officials said at the time, disclosing that the drugs were being distributed under the auspices of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, a criminal organization whose exploits date back to illegal shipments of alcohol into the U.S. during Prohibition.
Larpenter said the cocaine was coming from Mexico and then through south Texas. The seizures included packages of cocaine hidden in a shipment of garden mulch on an 18-wheeler. Another 18-wheeler was also seized, along with a pickup.
“We weren’t their first stop, I can assure you,” Larpenter said, indicating that greater quantities of cocaine or other drugs may have well been distributed at other places along the route. “They didn’t come for just one little stop here, we were probably their last stop.”
One of the big trucks was taken at the parking lot at Walmart on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
“The final destination definitely was southeast Louisiana,” said Maj. Terry Daigre, commander of Larpenter’s Narcotics Division. “It was going to be offloaded right here.”
The Terrebonne Narcotics Task Force conducted the operation, with assistance from the Louisiana State Police and the sheriff’s offices of Jefferson and St. Charles parishes.
Larpenter said agents recovered over 20 kilograms between all three vehicles, with “a very high level of purity.” At bulk rate with its purity as is, Larpenter estimated the value at around $750,000. The value on the street could be much more however, as cocaine is routinely “stepped on” or diluted with other substances, sometimes at a rate of four times its weight.
No money was seized during the taking of the trucks or the arrests, but agents said their intention was to keep the distribution from reaching the point where cash exchanged hands between actors.
“There is too much that can go wrong when you reach that point,” one deputy said. “We are not about letting drugs get on the streets and letting people overdose, if we can stop it.”
In addition to Hinojosa and Robles, authorities arrested Antonio Izaguirre, 42, of Hidalgo, Texas; Francisco Ruiz, 41 of Houston; Jose Hinojosa of Brownsville and , 53 and Jesus Hinojosa, 38.
Authorities confirmed that the drugs belong to the Gulf Cartel, described in Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Department of State reports as a “long-standing (cartel) in Mexico, with a traditional base of power in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.”
Gulf Cartel operations, as of last year, consisted largely of methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin as well as cocaine.
Larpenter was critical during an interview Friday of attorneys for the Hinojosa family, noting that the law firm filing the suit includes as a partner State Rep. Tanner Magee R-Houma. Magee said the case is not his but that Hinjosa is the client of his law partner, Robert Landry.
Magee has routinely practiced criminal law in Terrebonne Parish.
Hinojosa and his alleged associates were indicted in early February by a federal grand jury for drug trafficking and related crimes. Charges against the remaining defendants are still pending in New Orleans federal court. •
