Corrupt South Texas politician turns out to be worst FBI informant ever

Former Webb County Commissioner Mike Montemayor Former Webb County Commissioner Mike Montemayor Photo: Danny Zaragoza Photo: Danny Zaragoza Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Corrupt South Texas politician turns out to be worst FBI informant ever 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — Federal investigators aren’t too impressed with the help a former Laredo politician offered them after he got busted.

Mike Montemayor, who until his arrest last year was a Webb County commissioner, is scheduled to get sentenced Monday for taking bribes in the form of cash and electronics from an undercover FBI agent posing as a businessman.

A judge will decide his prison term Monday, and Montemayor’s lawyer apparently argued that his sentence should be reduced because he helped out the feds.

That didn’t sit well with federal prosecutor Emily Rae Woods, who this week filed a rare public brief alleging that rather than helping FBI agents, Montemayor made off with bureau equipment.

Sure he agreed to work for the FBI after agents lured him to a San Antonio hotel room with the promise of Spurs tickets, Woods wrote. Within days, however, Montemayor stopped returning investigators’ phone calls.

“Montemayor refused to turn over the Apple products and other electronics he had received from the undercover FBI agent,” Woods wrote. “Montemayor also failed, despite repeated requests by the government, to return property of the FBI, specifically a recording device, which he had kept for months without the consent of the FBI.”

Read more details about Montemayor, the bizarre relationship with the FBI and his day in court on ExpressNews.com.

jbuch@express-news.net