CRIMINAL JUSTICE, MEXICAN STYLE

A good friend, formerly in charge of a state police unit on the Mexican border, send me an article from The Monitor, a McAllen, Texas newspaper. The story illustrates why it is unwise for American tourists to visit Mexican border towns. My friend called attention to the fact that over 4,000 people have been murdered in Mexico near our border during the past year. He wrote: "Another gringo gets ripped off in a border town and is surprised. He is lucky that they didn't keep his truck and kill him. Nuevo Progresso was the last tourist town that was relatively safe."

CSI: MEXICO - Unlike our phony TV shows, this is the real deal. The Mexican cops in Rio Bravo accused an American tourist of stealing his own truck because they found his fingerprints inside it. Now that's what I call outstanding CSI work.

Here is that article:


The Monitor

NEW BRAUNFELS MAN CLAIMS EXTORTION BY RIO BRAVO POLICE by Ana Ley

NUEVO PROGRESO — Thomas Knutson was dumbfounded.

He had just told U.S. customs officers that Rio Bravo police had confiscated his stolen truck, accused him of stealing it himself and forced him to pay a bribe to avoid a weeks-long jail term for vehicle theft.

"They said this happens all the time," he said of the customs officers. "I didn't know what to do."

Knutson, 61, of New Braunfels, said he was leaving a dentist's office in Nuevo Progreso with his brother and sister-in-law, both Winter Texans from Illinois, when he realized his truck was missing from its parking spot. He called Nuevo Progreso's police station to file a report, but officials there told him the truck had already been recovered in nearby Rio Bravo.

The three made a trip to the Rio Bravo police station with Nuevo Progreso City Hall staffer Joe Adellano, who served as a translator for them. Adellano told Knutson the Rio Bravo police didn't believe the truck actually belonged to him and claimed he had stolen it himself and was trying to get it back from the authorities.

"The police said that he tried to steal it," Adellano said. "He was saying one thing and then he said another. ... The police, they don't buy it. They think (Knutson) made it up."

Adellano said the police believed Knutson was lying because he first said he parked the vehicle and left it unattended for several hours, later changing his story and saying he had only made a quick stop at a 7-11 convenience store. They also suspected he had stolen the vehicle because they had found his fingerprints inside it.

But Knutson said their accusations were part of an extortion scheme.

"They said I've got to cough up some money," he said. "They said that if I didn't agree, I'd have to pay more for a judge and for the chief of police (in bribes) so that I could get out of jail."

Numerous calls to Rio Bravo police officials were not returned Friday.

Knutson said officers haggled with him for several hours while his family waited outside and that police took his passport and threatened to confiscate it if he did not comply with their requests.

Eventually, he paid the officers $510, of which police claimed $120 was a towing fee, and he was given his truck back and allowed to leave the station.

"It was total intimidation," he said, shaking his head nervously. "I'd never felt so helpless, so discouraged, so intimidated. I felt like I was being raped."