Inmate’s claim that judge owes him $5.8 million could bring more prison time

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez bowed out of a trial when he learned another judge in the Western District of Texas, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses, might testify in the trial of a man accused of bankruptcy fraud. The man, a prisoner Moses sentenced, arranged to file bankruptcy paperwork accusing her of owing him $5.8 million. less U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez bowed out of a trial when he learned another judge in the Western District of Texas, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses, might testify in the trial of a man accused of ... more Photo: Juanito M Garza /San Antonio Express-News Photo: Juanito M Garza /San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Inmate’s claim that judge owes him $5.8 million could bring more prison time 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A drug smuggler unhappy with the sentence he got for his marijuana cases tried a novel way of getting even with the jurist, federal officials say: He allegedly forced U.S. District Judge Alia Moses into bankruptcy proceedings and falsely claimed she owed him $5.8 million.

Prosecutors and the FBI say Leandro Cardenas Luna, 58, filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Moses in 2014 to retaliate for the way she handled his 2006 marijuana smuggling case and a similar conviction four years earlier.

Involuntary bankruptcy petitions are normally filed against a debtor by a creditor worried that the debtor is depleting assets. But the ploy got Luna charged with mail fraud and two counts of bankruptcy fraud. He now faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted in a trial set for Aug. 22 in San Antonio.

The unusual case prompted U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, to decide not to preside over it after he learned last week that Moses is expected to testify. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans then appointed U.S. District Judge Nancy F. Atlas, who is from a different federal district than Rodriguez and Moses, to oversee the case.

At a hearing Tuesday, Luna’s lawyer, assistant federal public defender Molly Roth, asked Atlas to limit the language in the indictment, which is given to the jury at trial.

The indictment never mentions Moses — the lone federal district judge in Del Rio — by name.

Roth argued that the indictment contains irrelevant information like the case numbers and the sentence Luna received, and that the charging document states Luna filed the involuntary bankruptcy petition to retaliate.

“It’s inflammatory and prejudicial,” Roth said.

U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg told Atlas that Luna, while incarcerated, made separate attempts in 2014 to try to get the bankruptcy petition filed and duped a former stepson to help mail the paperwork — which was accepted by the bankruptcy court in San Antonio on Aug. 6, 2014.

“The judge does not have a civil judgment against her,” Roomberg said.

“I believe (the disputed language) is highly relevant and not inflammatory … and shows he didn’t just pick someone at random,” Roomberg said. “He went after the judge who put him in jail.”

Atlas ordered the case numbers and length of sentence redacted from the indictment but told Roomberg, “I’m not preventing you from explaining that she’s the judge who sentenced him.”

Records show Moses, during a bench trial in 2007, found Luna guilty of smuggling more than 280 pounds of marijuana near Comstock.

Moses sentenced Luna to 10 years on the marijuana charge and tacked on another year after finding the arrest violated his supervised release in a 2002 conviction that connected him to 660 pounds of marijuana near Alpine, records show.

While in federal prison in Bastrop, Luna escaped with a fellow inmate in a government van on Nov. 20, 2009. The van was found in South Austin, but both had managed to get to Mexico, where they were arrested. On Nov. 27, 2009, they were turned over to federal marshals in Del Rio, records show.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin sentenced Luna to 24 months in prison on top of the 11 years Moses gave him, records show.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland