FORT WORTH, TEXAS
A federal jury convicted two Mexican citizens on federal charges related to the murder of Southlake, Texas, resident, Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, at Southlake Town Square on May 22, 2013, officials announced today.
The guilty verdicts were announced after a two-weeks trial, officials said.
Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda, a/k/a “Chuy” and “Juan Ramos,” 59, and his cousin, Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, 60, were each convicted on one count of interstate stalking and one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire.
Each offense carries a life sentence. Cepeda-Cortes was also convicted on one count of tampering with documents or proceedings, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years.
Another defendant charged in the indictment, Ledezma-Cepeda’s son, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano, 32, plead guilty prior to trial to one count of interstate stalking. He is also a Mexican citizen and testified for the government at trial.
All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22.
Prosecutors also alleged that conspirators tried early in their search to get the U.S. government to deport Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa, reportedly the lawyer for the onetime leader of the Gulf Cartel, according to published reports.
At some point before the killing, Guerrero “received calls from others to warn him that he was in danger, because he had been found by people who wanted to kill him,” according to El Daily Post.
“Immediately after hanging up the phone, he informed his wife he was scared,” the Post reported that documents state. “He also told her he didn’t want to go back to the house. He stated that the individuals looking for him knew where they lived.”
Guerrero told his wife to stop using their cell phones.
He was “startled that he had been found,” according to the documents.
On May 22, 2013, at about 6:47 p.m., Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was ambushed and shot multiple times with a 9mm pistol while seated in his Range Rover that was parked at Southlake Town Square. A Toyota Sequoia pulled up behind the Range Rover, a gunman got out of that vehicle, walked up to the Range Rover and fired several times through the window at Mr. Chapa, who died at the scene.
Nearby, Chapa’s wife was not harmed.
The government presented evidence during trial that from approximately March 1, 2011, until May 22, 2015, the three defendants traveled in interstate and foreign commerce from Mexico to Southlake, and elsewhere, with the intent to kill Chapa.
In addition, the government presented evidence that Ledezma-Cepeda, Cepeda-Cortes and others conspired to travel from Mexico and elsewhere to Southlake and elsewhere, with the intent to murder Mr. Chapa.
Further, the government presented evidence that from approximately May 23, 2013, until September 5, 2014, Cepeda-Cortes took steps to destroy evidence related to the investigation that was on his computer.
The defendants, according to evidence presented at trial, were acting on orders from a man in Mexico, Rodolfo Villarreal Hernandez, known as “El Gato,” or “The Cat,” who wanted Chapa killed as revenge for his father’s murder.
The defendants exchanged information via email to locate Chapa – exchanging personal information about Chapa and his family, as well as information regarding vehicles associated with them and photographs of the Chapa residence in Southlake.
The defendants used various means to locate and track Chapa and members of his family. Cepeda-Cortes purchased surveillance cameras that were placed in various locations in Chapa’s neighborhood.
In addition, while in the area, the defendants purchased and rented several vehicles that allowed them to frequently change vehicles and use rental vehicles to avoid detection by Chapa and his family.
They placed automobile tracking devices not only on their vehicles, but on vehicles owned and operated by Chapa and his relatives, including the Range Rover that Chapa was in when he was murdered.
The evidence indicated that after the defendants located Chapa, “El Gato” sent two assassins from Mexico to Southlake to kill Chapa.
One of them was the gunman who killed the victim on May 22, 2013, and the other drove the Toyota Sequoia.