Looking for a three-bedroom, three-bath condo facing the Gulf of Mexico on South Padre Island? Perhaps a 5,000-square foot home in the Rio Grande Valley? How about a $262,000 home in the suburbs between San Marcos and Austin?
They're available, provided buyers don't mind that Homeland Security Investigations, the DEA and the IRS say the suspected true owner bought them to launder money.
The federal government Friday will auction a condo it says was bought by Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, the former mayor of the border city of Matamoros and ex-governor of Tamaulipas, the Mexican state that stretches along the Texas border from Laredo to Brownsville.
The condo is on the 14th floor of the Bridgepoint Condominiums complex, and was in the name of Napoleon Rodriguez, who agents say was a straw buyer for Yarrington.
Rodriguez is in custody in Mexico, and Yarrington's lawyer has denied Yarrington has any connection to the condo.
In the government's court paperwork that led to the forfeiture of the condo, it said that from 1998 to at least 2005, while he was in office, Yarrington acquired millions of dollars in payments from large-scale drug organizations operating in and through Tamaulipas and from various extortion or bribery schemes.
Condo unit 1401 features granite counters, a tiled stand-up shower with bench seating, floor-to-ceiling windows, a balcony and amenities that include gated access, 24-hour security, a heated pool and spa, children's play pool, party gazebo, private beach access and an outdoor shower, according to paperwork advertising the auction. It has been valued at up to $640,000.
On Aug. 29, the feds also will auction a five-bedroom, 61/2-bath Mediterranean-style home in McAllen once worth more than $600,000 that was in the name of former Texas State University communications Professor Sindy Chapa.
A Mexican website, Columna Tamaulipas, has identified Chapa as an ex-girlfriend of Yarrington. Sources confirmed investigators in the U.S. have received similar information about that prior relationship, leading agents to claim that the McAllen house, and another in Kyle, was obtained with illegal proceeds, though the activity isn't specified.
Since the feds filed civil forfeitures lawsuits last September against the homes, Chapa has left her job at Texas State and moved to Florida, where she got a similar teaching gig at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She has never directly responded to the government's claims that the homes were obtained by illegal means. She couldn't be reached for comment Thursday via e-mail or by phone.
While much of the government's reasons remain sealed, the feds also served Yarrington's Houston-based attorney, Joel Androphy, in an effort to inform Yarrington that they were going after the McAllen and Kyle homes.
Neither Androphy, Yarrington nor Chapa filed an answer in court, so the McAllen home at 9801 N. Ware Road and the home in Kyle at 1019 Fairway were turned over to the feds by default judgment. The Kyle home was just defaulted on July 31 and will be auctioned later.
Prosecutors also have alleged in court documents that Yarrington took millions of dollars in bribes from drug cartels and laundered them in Texas through other intermediaries.
As part of that investigation, the feds are seeking forfeiture of 46 acres on San Antonio's North Side, near the Shops at La Cantera and Fiesta Texas. That case is pending.
Androphy has said he doesn't agree about the alleged relationship between Chapa and his client.
Yarrington left the U.S. in early 2012 at the request of the government because his immigration status allowing him here had expired, Androphy has said.
“The bottom line is they're spending a lot of time making general allegations against a gentleman that they asked to leave the country, ” Androphy said. “And then they turn around and start making these allegations. It's illogical you would allow someone to leave the country when they are under criminal investigation. The timing of the government's request that he leave the country and the timing of the allegations suggest they have no support.”