Border agent indicted in beheading death of Honduran man

Joel Luna, a 30-year-old U.S. Border Patrol agent Joel Luna, a 30-year-old U.S. Border Patrol agent Photo: Courtesy Photo Photo: Courtesy Photo Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Border agent indicted in beheading death of Honduran man 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

A Border Patrol agent and four other men with alleged ties to a Mexican drug cartel were indicted on capital murder, murder and organized crime charges Wednesday, accused of involvement in the beheading of a Honduran immigrant last March.

Joel Luna, 30, a U.S. Border Patrol who had been assigned to a checkpoint in Hebbronville for the past six years, was arrested in November and charged in the death of Jose Francisco Rodriguez Palacios Paz, 33, whose headless, mutilated body was pulled from the waters off South Padre Island.

Border Patrol put Luna on indefinite leave.

Aaron Rodriguez Medellin, 22, Nestor Manuel Leal, 18, and Luna’s brothers, Eduardo Luna Rodriguez, 24, and Fernando Luna Rodriguez, 35, were also indicted Wednesday. All four men were arrested in June in connection with Palacio’s death.

“These indictments, as well as all law enforcement efforts, are essential in pushing back against spillover violence and show we will not stand for the encroachment of the cartels in our community,” said Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz in a statement.

Cameron County sheriff’s deputies said Palacios was killed in Edinburg, where he worked in a tire shop. After authorities arrested Luna’s alleged accomplices, attention turned to the veteran border agent.

Investigators said the brutal murder of Palacios was connected to the Gulf cartel, an international drug-trafficking operation based in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas.

Investigators learned of a black steel safe in the home of Luna’s mother-in-law. Authorities seized more than a kilogram of cocaine, 17 grams of methamphetamine, a 1911 engraved pistol, a .22-caliber pistol, about $90,000 in bundled cash and Luna’s Border Patrol badge from the safe.

“We do not tolerate corruption or abuse within our ranks, and we fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigation of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, on or off duty,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement after Luna’s arrest.

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