A Texas border sheriff, who is the brother of Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, has been indicted on charges of misusing public funds during the COVID-19 pandemic to run a private disinfection company, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar Jr. appeared in federal court in Texas on fraud and conspiracy charges and was released on bail. He pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer denied Al-Sharif’s involvement in this act.
Martin Cuellar has been the county’s mayor since 2009, four years after Henry Cuellar was sworn into Congress. In December, President Donald Trump Pardon the congressman And his wife in Federal bribery and conspiracy caseCiting what the president described as a “weaponized” justice system.
Four days after the pardon, Trump The congressman criticized on Truth Social for a “lack of loyalty” because the congressman did not switch parties to run for re-election this year.
Eric Reed, the sheriff’s attorney who previously represented Henry Cuellar, called the charges against Martin Cuellar baseless.
“It is, we believe, based on some incorrect assumptions and narratives that may be fueled by politics and local rivalries,” Reed said. “It is my hope that the decision to charge Sheriff Cuellar and the timing of the charges will not be influenced by politics at any level.”
A federal grand jury indicted Al-Sharif on five felony counts in November, and the indictment was unsealed Thursday when he made his first court appearance. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The indictment alleges that the sheriff and two of his employees ran a local company, Disinfect Pro Master, that disinfected homes and businesses from 2020 to 2022, and that it received a $500,000 contract to disinfect local school district buildings.
According to the indictment, Cuellar “considered himself a silent partner” but devised a scheme to operate a for-profit company with resources from the county sheriff’s office, including supplies, vehicles, equipment and employees, without compensation to the county.
The indictment alleges that Cuellar and the two other men received more than $175,000 from the company, most of it from the school district contract.
The sheriff faces three counts of defrauding a local government receiving federal funds, one count of conspiracy and one count of conducting a financial transaction involving “criminally derived property” by using $71,000 of company proceeds to purchase a 10-acre property.
Prosecutors must show that he knew about the misappropriation of county property and that he intended it to happen, Reed said.
He added: “Our investigation reveals that the opposite is true, and that he did not know.”
Henry Cuellar is a moderate Democrat who retained his seat in 2024 despite Trump winning by 7 percentage points in his district. Martin Cuellar, also a Democrat, faced no opponent in his re-election campaign that same year.
Trump’s pardon accepted Henry Cuellar and his wife He was charged Accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman promoting the interests of a bank in Mexico and an energy company controlled by Azerbaijan. The congressman said they were innocent.