Vice President Cheney indicted by Guerra for inmate death & neglect of illegal aliens
Other indictments: Sen. Eddie Lucio & former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES, left, and Vice President Dick Cheney are shown in this 2006 file photo at the White House. AP Photo

Lameduck District Attorney Juan Angel "Johnny" Guerra got a Willacy County grand jury to indict U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on an alleged charge of engaging in organized criminal activity, in the 2001 beating death of an inmate by two fellow inmates who used socks laden with padlocks. The indictment also alleges they neglected illegal aliens at the 3,000 bed ICE Unit in Raymondville.

Former state prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now owned by GEO Corp., was also reindicted on alleged murder and manslaughter charges, after the family got a $47.5 million wrongful death civil judgment.

Vice President Cheney's involvement is as a shareholder of GEO and/or Wackenhut at the time of the death of state jail inmate Gregorio De La Rosa Jr., according to copies of the signed indictments received by the Chronicle/News.

The vice president's indictment states in part; "Defendant Richard B. Cheney has over $85 million invested in said company." The vice president allegedly exerted his influence with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department, according to Guerra.

It was not clear what Vice President Cheney did wrong in the vaguely worded 4-page indictment, that is littered with typographical errors.

In Vice President Cheney's and Mr. Gonzales's indictment, Guerra writes, "each Defendant committed the crime of neglect to U.S. citizen prisoners, federal prisoners, and federal detainees (illegal aliens) ... and said acts amount to at least ... Class A misdemeanor assaults."

Lastly, Guerra claims that Vice President Cheney is illegally profiting under Article III, Section 18 of the Texas Constitution, because he is a shareholder of Vanguard Fiduciary Trust.

Earlier today, Vice President Cheney's Press Secretary Megan M. Mitchell said her office had no knowledge of any indictment. The Chronicle/ News offered to fax her a copy of the indictment for comment, but she did not respond by press time.

GEO/Wackenhut's earlier murder and manslaughter indictment was rescinded by Guerra when he did not follow policy in processing the document. Also indicted was former Warden David Forrest.

Gonzales allegedly used his influence on or about November 22nd to stop an investigation into a federal prison scam during the construction on a 500-bed facility used by the U.S. Marshals Service in Raymondville.

Several county commissioners pleaded guilty to taking $10,000 in bribes.

In a related 5-count indictment, Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr., allegedly accepted an honorarium, while acting as a consultants for CorPlan Corrections and Management and Training Corporation (MTC), which operates a 3,000 bed ICE facility for housing illegal aliens in Raymondville, Texas.

Guerra alleges that Lucio used his official position to secure the consultants positions as service providers.

District Clerk Gilbert Lozano, who is under indictment himself, is concerned that the grand jury foreman was not invited to attend Monday's session, where these officials, along with two district judges and two former special prosecutors were caused to be indicted by Guerra. See related story on page 1.

Bail is in the process of being set for all who were indicted; however, several of those indicted have stated they are going to have their indictments quashed (stopped). More details to come as events unfold.

E-mail comments on this story to; robert@raymondvillechroniclenews.com