A 36-year-old Pharr resident, Pablo Talavera Jr., and former Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for providing false information to federal authorities during a drug investigation. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Talavera pleaded guilty on August 28, and U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez issued the sentence, which will be followed by two years of supervised release. During the hearing, opposing arguments were presented on the appropriate sentence, and Judge Alvarez imposed a longer term due to Talavera's former position as a law enforcement officer when the offense occurred.

The investigation, initiated in 2019, targeted an organization involved in transporting multi-kilogram quantities of meth, heroin, and cocaine from the Rio Grande Valley to Tennessee. Talavera's father led the organization, and it was revealed that Talavera, as a DPS trooper, assisted his father by running license plates of vehicles suspected to belong to law enforcement. Initially providing false information, Talavera later admitted to aiding his father, who is currently serving a 21-year sentence in federal prison.

Talavera has been allowed to remain on bond and will voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility, with the location to be determined soon. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation was conducted by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, with the support of the Texas Rangers.

OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found on the Department of Justice’s OCDETF webpage.