Chihuahua.- Criminal Control Judge Eduardo Alexis Ornelas Pérez released, in exchange for a guarantee of just 10 thousand pesos, three alleged fraudsters, Carlos AGE, Anushka EB and Jorge BE, to whom another judge had imposed the precautionary measure of preventive detention for fraud and other crimes in the purchase and sale of automobiles.
The judge has been accused of handling some priority cases of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) during the administration of Javier Corral and for favoring a man accused of rape who was the nephew of a federal magistrate.
Those accused of fraud and use of false documents were allegedly engaged in purchasing vehicles with bad checks in the city; they were arrested in May of this year and charged with pretrial detention as bail, because they had no residence or ties to Chihuahua.
However, they were released last Saturday, July 13 of this year, after Ornelas Pérez ordered their release, modifying the preventive detention that had been imposed on the detainees by a judge of the same rank, who was in charge of the criminal case, on May 2 of this year.
Judge Ornelas Pérez, at the hearing held on July 13, modified the precautionary measure of imprisonment for the periodic signature on a weekly basis and the economic guarantee for the amount of 10 thousand pesos for each of the accused.
According to the court records to which El Diario had access, the judge was not the head of the case and the defense attorney for the accused, Cindy Tapia Portillo, sought until the weekend, when the judges’ guard came in, for a request for review of precautionary measures to be assigned to Ornelas Pérez, who was on duty.
The defense’s request was immediately granted, and the parties, the accuser and the defense, were summoned to a weekend hearing to review the precautionary measure; these requests can take several weeks to be agreed upon by the judges and are usually made by those who are in charge of the criminal cases.
In the record of the hearing for the review of measures, the defense argued that the conditions determined by the judge in charge of the case to impose preventive detention had objectively changed with a series of witnesses, who, according to the prosecution, gave their statements falsely, since as a result of the cross-examination carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, it was clear that the detainees had no ties to this city.
The MP claimed that the interviewees had stated false facts to benefit the accused, a situation that the judge did not take into account when deciding on the release, which resulted in the accused evading justice.
The first week they disappeared
The first week in which the accused, Carlos, Anushka and Jorge, were supposed to appear to sign in order to continue their process in freedom, they did not attend, so the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) informed the judge in charge of the criminal case of the situation, through the Pre-Trial Services area of the Superior Court of Justice.
For this reason, the judge called for a hearing to review precautionary measures for July 24, 2024, according to what is recorded in the court records; however, the defendants did not appear, so the judge declared them removed from the action of justice and ordered their arrest again to continue with the process.
Carlos and Jorge, originally from Coatepec, Veracruz, and Anushka, originally from Tlalpan, were brought to trial on May 7 by a control judge of the Morelos Judicial District, who was in charge of the case and who later declared them evaded justice, for the crimes of fraud and use of false documents, since the ministerial investigations proved both crimes would have been committed on April 29, 2024.
The judicial investigation file states that the defendants bought a Chevrolet Aveo 2009 model vehicle from a victim – whose identity is reserved – making him believe that they had made a payment of 65 thousand pesos through a deposit into his bank account.
The victim did not hand over the original invoice until the outstanding payment of 10 thousand pesos was made, but moments after the alleged transaction the affected party made a report to 911, since the payment was not reflected.
Following the report, agents from the Chihuahua Public Security Directorate were able to locate the vehicle on Instituto Politécnico Nacional Street and De la Juventud Periphery, where the defendants had just closed the sale of the vehicle for 45 thousand pesos with another person, using a false invoice for the car.
The detainees were also found to have another false invoice for a vehicle they had rented to commit crimes, as well as 36 checks from the banking institution HSBC, which they used to make false payments.
The case was prosecuted by the Strategic Operations Prosecutor’s Office of the State Attorney General’s Office, which to date continues to search for the three alleged fraudsters who were strangely released after having been charged and linked, with the precautionary measure of preventive detention in between, eliminated by Judge Ornelas Pérez.
A controversial and suspicious judge
Since late 2016, Control Judge Alexis Ornelas gained notoriety for being one of the first to issue judicial requirements and orders against former Governor César Duarte, at the request of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), during the government of Javier Corral.
Ornelas Pérez also appears in court records as one of the main persons in charge of controlling the detention of former officials of the Duarte Jáquez administration, in resolutions questioned by defense attorneys.
In addition, in December 2018 he was accused of favoring the nephew of federal judge Martha Olivia Tello Acuña, identified as José Alberto Caro Márquez, who had been accused of rape against his partner.
For this case, which was reported in the media, the judge was criticized by social organizations and the State Prosecutor’s Office itself, because he released the accused after considering that the attacks suffered by the accused’s victim, such as facial fractures, tears, bruises and a series of duly accredited injuries, corresponded to a “reconciliatory sexual relationship,” for which reason he did not issue an order to link the accused to trial.
Following the incident, the State Congress even urged the State Judicial Council to review Ornelas’ actions in criminal case 3741/18, in which the accused was acquitted, but no sanction was ever imposed on him.
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