Dozens of FBI agents surrounded the sheriff’s office and the Hammond Police Department Thursday afternoon.

We’re currently conducting multiple court authorized actions.

The investigations are ongoing and we have no further comment at this time.

We are okay.

It’s just we’re working with them on an investigation.

The FBI was raiding the Hammond PD.

This resulted in 20 people being charged, including 14 law enforcement officers and six co-conspirators.

The evidence will show they took bribes to facilitate the distribution of controlled substances.

9:47 p.m.

Highway 277 outside Eagle Pass, Texas.

DEA Special Agent Daniel Cruz was driving back to San Antonio after an undercover drug buy when red and blue lights showed up in his rear view mirror.

A Maverick County Sheriff’s deputy was pulling him over.

Cruz’s cover was strong.

Fake ID, fake criminal record, fake vehicle registration.

Is the sheriff’s department under investigation by the FBI? You’re not divulging anything right now.

What’s going on, man? Um, I was just a little tired, so I pulled over to take a nap.

Okay.

He had been working undercover for 6 months, and no one in the cartel knew his real identity.

We’re talking about 14 current or former law enforcement officers, six co-conspirators who are alleged to have sold out the public, promoted crimes that they should have been investigating and stopped.

This was just a routine traffic stop, or so he thought.

In that moment, Cruz realized something terrifying.

The Maverick County Sheriff’s Office was not investigating the Sinaloa cartel.

They were working for them, and he had just been found out by the very people who should have been keeping him safe.

A few of the departments where the law enforcement officers worked were Yazu City Sheriff’s Department, Humphre County Sheriff’s Department, and Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

The FBI said they trafficked drugs to Miami and Memphis.

Though, what Cruz did not know yet was that Sheriff Thomas Rivera and 34 of his 52 deputies had been getting paid by the Sinaloa cartel for 4 years.

They had moved $890 million in drugs through Maverick County by turning law enforcement into a cartel protection service.

Those deputies, both former DEA task force officers, are charged with stealing cash and drugs during raids.

Could the FBI take down an entire sheriff’s office without starting a war in a Texas border county? Hit like, comment, and subscribe before we reveal the biggest sheriff corruption case in American history.

Our cameras were rolling as the Berry County Sheriff’s Office was raided by the FBI.

Sheriff Thomas Rivera won the election in November 2020 on a tough on crime platform.

The former Marine and 18-year veteran of the Texas Department of Public Safety promised voters he would secure Maverick County 70 mi of border with Mexico.

Now, the raids in Portsouth happened on Dale Drive, Maple Avenue, Portsouth Boulevard, and Highland Avenue.

His campaign slogan was no cartels, no compromises.

Within 3 weeks of taking office, Ana Rivera was approached by Sinaloa cartel representatives.

The offer was simple, $500,000 per month to make Maverick County Cartel friendly.

In return, the sheriff would share police radio frequencies, patrol schedules, sensor locations, and protection for drug shipments crossing through the county.

Now, at this time, all the deputy constables have been removed from the building and cannot enter the building until that investigation is complete.

Deputies would escort drug loads to safe houses.

Anyone looking into cartel activity would be arrested on fake charges.

The county would become a safe path for drug trafficking.

Rivera agreed right away, but he had a problem.

Not all his deputies would go along with it, so he began picking people carefully.

New hires were checked for signs that they could be corrupted, such as money problems, gambling debts, and personal weaknesses.

It’s a massive federal takedown in the Mississippi Delta.

20 people indicted in an alleged conspiracy ring, including two sheriffs, several police officers, and a former state trooper.

And deputies who seemed unsure were given a choice.

join the network or be fired based on madeup disciplinary charges.

Those who said no and threatened to report the corruption faced something worse, being arrested on planted evidence or having their families threatened.

Within 18 months, Rivera had corrupted 34 of his 52 deputies.

We have received confirmation that the FBI and the Texas Rangers are leading this investigation.

The remaining 18 honest deputies survived by keeping their heads down and not asking questions about why drug investigations always ended with not enough evidence.

The corruption worked like a criminal business.

Rivera ran the county like a cartel boss.

He held weekly meetings with his inner circle, eight senior deputies who managed the protection network.

They coordinated drug shipments, assigned escorts, handed out bribe money, and got rid of threats.

Officials say the next steps will be a series of trials and accountability to restore the public’s trust.

Deputies working cartel escorts earned bonuses based on how big the load was.

The sheriff took his cut from every shipment, usually 10% of the cartel’s payment to his office.

The system was frighteningly efficient.

When border sensors picked up movement in cartel crossing zones, corrupt deputies would respond to the alert and radio back false alarm.

FBI agents swarm the buildings with the help of DPS troopers while the FBI remains tight-lipped about the investigation or animal activity.

But the most shocking abuse was Rivera’s treatment of federal agents.

Over four years, three DEA agents carrying out undercover operations in Maverick County were exposed by the sheriff’s office.

In each case, Rivera or his deputies arrested the agents on fake charges such as drug possession, weapons violations, and obstruction.

Well, those two federal trucks still outside the precinct 2 constable office.

They’ve been here since 6:45 this morning.

Then leaked their real identities to the cartel.

Two agents barely escaped with their lives.

The third, Daniel Cruz, Ma got the warning in time to run.

The investigation that would bring down Ria’s empire began on October 15th, 2025, the day after Cruz was exposed.

The FBI seized cell phones, some vehicles, and computers, and it’s believed their raid is tied to a federal case.

Cruz immediately drove to San Antonio and contacted the FBI San Antonio field office.

His story was explosive, but needed to be verified.

Could an entire sheriff’s office really be working for a cartel? The FBI is being tight lipped about who or what they’re looking for.

FBI special agent Michelle Torres took the case.

She had investigated corruption before, but nothing like this.

an elected sheriff, 34 deputies, four years of operation, $890 million in protected drug trafficking, and multiple federal agents targeted.

The FBI could not use normal investigation methods.

Torres started a secret investigation called Operation Lonear Betrayal.

The FBI put wiretaps on Rivera’s personal phones after getting federal warrants.

The wiretaps were devastating.

Within weeks, the FBI recorded Rivera talking directly with Sinaloa cartel logistics coordinators.

There were conversations about shipment schedules, payment deliveries, and people who needed to be handled.

Deputies were discussing escort assignments like they were normal police work.

Senior deputies were dividing bribe money in Rivera’s office like gang members splitting robbery money.

But Torres needed more than wiretaps.

She needed an insider, someone who could document the corruption from the inside.

That is when the FBI recruited Michael Santos, a former Army Ranger and trained law enforcement officer to go undercover as a deputy.

The cover story was perfect.

Santos had military experience, law enforcement training, and money problems that made him look like someone who could be corrupted.

Rivera personally interviewed him, looking for weaknesses.

Santos mentioned gambling debts, and child support payments he could not afford.

Rivera smiled.

We take care of our people.

You’ll make enough to solve all those problems.

Santos was hired.

Within two weeks, he was approached by a senior deputy about extra work.

The deputy explained the deal.

Disable body cameras during certain shifts, ignore sensors in specific zones, escort vehicles when assigned, and keep quiet about everything.

Monthly payment, $50,000 cash.

Santos agreed.

For 4 months, Santos wore a hidden recording device to every shift.

He documented corrupt deputies meeting with cartel members at gas stations.

He recorded Rivera personally meeting with Sinaloa representatives in a restaurant parking lot.

Torres had everything she needed.

Wire taps, financial records, undercover testimony, and physical evidence of murders.

She presented the case to the US attorney’s office in San Antonio.

Federal prosecutors approved charges against Rivera and 34 deputies for narot terrorism, drug trafficking, conspiracy, murder, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and civil rights violations.

April 22nd, 6:00 a.m.

FBI tactical teams surrounded the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office in Eagle Pass.

At the same time, teams were positioned at the homes of all 34 corrupt deputies and at Rivera’s ranch.

The operation would be fast, coordinated, and overwhelming.

At exactly 6:03 a.m., FBI agents broke through the sheriff’s office front doors.

The morning shift deputies, eight of them, all corrupt, stared in shock as federal agents flooded the building.

Nowhere.

In his office, Sheriff Rivera was sitting at his desk counting cash.

$180,000 in banded stacks that had been delivered the night before by a cartel courier.

He looked up as FBI agents walked in with weapons drawn.

For a moment, he thought about reaching for the pistol in his desk drawer.

Then he saw the red laser dots on his chest and raised his hands.

Sheriff Thomas Rivera, you are under arrest for narot terrorism, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, murder, and corruption.

Special Agent Torres announced, “You have the right to remain silent.

” Ria said nothing as agents handcuffed him.

His face showed not shock or fear.

It showed resignation.

He had always known this day, Mike.

He just had not expected it to happen so completely.

Across Maverick County, FBI teams made arrests at 34 homes at the same time.

And deputies waking up for work found federal agents at their doors with arrest warrants.

Some tried to run, others gave up right away.

A few reached for weapons and were stopped by tactical teams.

Within 90 minutes, all 34 corrupt deputies were in custody.

At the sheriff’s office, FBI evidence teams found damaging material everywhere.

Computer files showing four years of work with cartels.

Body camera footage that deputies forgot to delete showing them escorting drug loads.

Financial records showing bribe payments totaling $6.

5 million to the sheriff’s office over four years.

And most damaging of all, Rivera’s personal phone with text messages to cartel coordinators discussing shipments, payments, and problems that need solving.

April 23rd, HR, Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference in Austin alongside Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Christopher Ray.

Yesterday, federal law enforcement arrested the sheriff of Maverick County and 34 deputies for running a criminal operation on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel.

For four years, these individuals sworn to uphold the law, sold their badges, and betrayed their community.

They protected $890 million in drug trafficking.

They murdered 12 people, and they arrested federal agents trying to stop the very cartel they were protecting.

Governor Abbott continued, effective immediately.