Trouble on the Mexican border

Since the Rio Grande River became an international border in 1848, contraband has poured across the water, into and through Starr County, Texas. Smuggling is part of the local landscape. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Sept. 16, 2014 12 PM PT

When the sheriff of Starr County, Texas, was led away in handcuffs for bribing a
bail bondsman back in 1998, the county pinned his star on his chief deputy,
Reymundo Rey Guerra. It wasnt long before Guerra was restoring the shine to the badge. It didnt last.

A Border Patrol agent monitors the banks of the Rio Grande River. Car and truck innertubes are often used to float illegal immigrants and bails of drugs across from Mexico.

In Starr County, Texas, the sheriff, Reymundo Guerra, has been indicted of conspiring to smuggle thousands of pounds of marijuana and cocaine through the county. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Starr County Chief Deputy Sheriff Guillermo Pena says of his former boss Reymundo Guerra: “I don’t have anything bad to say about the man. He was a pro.” (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Guerra, who resigned as sheriff after his arrest, has been confined to his ranch home in Rio Grande City. A grand archway at the property entrance bears his family name. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

When Rio Grande City, the county seat, was settled more than a hundred years ago, its brick buildings along Main Street were right along the bank of the Rio Grande River. The river is now about a mile farther south. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A young boy tugs his goat in front of the judges at the Starr County Youth Fair in Rio Grande City, Texas. The arrest of prominent citizens accused of being involved in the drug trade doesnt really shock folks in Starr County that much anymore; its part of living on the border. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

“The good people far, far outweigh the bad people,” says Rio Grande City’s mayor, Ruben Villareal. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Father Amador Garza at mass at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, where Guerra used to go every Sunday.

It takes a lot not to despair. I have not forsaken him,” Garza said of Guerra. “He is still my friend and parishioner.... But personally, and professionally as well, I think the full weight of the law should come down on him if he did this. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)