Well, that may happen there, the professor responded, but thats not the way its supposed to happen.. When they neared the San Isidro Lodge, Silvino was in fourth but still in range of the leaders. Forty years ago, engineers had erected this road on top of an ancient Tarahumara foot trail. After field tests confirmed the drug, agents hauled the trailer to Alpine. That part of the state was out of control, said Dale Stinson, head of the DEA regional office. He built a small adobe house for his wife and children and another for his parents and siblings, and he fixed up an old truck so he could bring his harvest into the town of Urique to sell. Advertisements . Don Robert Hendrix, loving husband, caring father, loyal friend, devoted educator, world traveler, Houston sports fan, and music lover passed away in peace at his home on April 28, 2021. At approximately 1:15 a.m., Agent Fort observed a green Chevrolet Suburban driving east on the Fairgrounds Road with the lights off, DEA Agent Dale Stinson testified at a later court hearing. When the Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz stopped at the edge of one of these canyons, Urique, in the late nineteenth century, he couldnt imagine anyone living below. Soon the sound of the dirt bike faded. The only liquids to be found were two cans of Lone Star and three cans of Bud Light that had been left for Boyd at his headstone. Rogers, a family friend, was now a private attorney and had also been assigned a member of the group. Chambers, now 65, was quick to cooperate with federal officials and only served 13 years of a life sentence. About three hours later, the agents moved in to inspect the trailer, parked with the sheriffs other equipment. Phyllis was an immigrant who was . Robert and Kimberly both received bachelor's degrees in business administration from Texas A&M and were members of the Fellows program. The revelation, he said, left him feeling used, humiliated and dumb.. Multinational corporations seized the merchandising opportunities, and soon, people all over the world were wearing barefoot-style shoes. Although many still believe he was not directly involved in smuggling for an extended period of time, the DEA disputes this and pins several more tons of cocaine and marijuana smuggling on him for at least six years before his arrest. There were comments like, I wonder how much he kept?, the sheriff said. Of course, drug traffickers also know this. His plans are unknown, but his place in the annals of law enforcement infamy, as the Texas border sheriff who sold his badge for drug money, will be secure. Still, he got paid only if he successfully completed his mission. But Thompson, with brains, nerve and political savvy, proved up to the all-consuming job of being a rural West Texas sheriff. His teammates became ill; hed been the only one not stricken. Vega, it turned out, was a Tarahumara. Even for a strong farmer like Silvino, who used oxen to plough his fields in Huisuchi, cultivating chia in Urique proved biblical in its afflictions. According to McNamara, Thompson mismanaged task force funds, illegally destroyed its records and grossly exaggerated its accomplishments. Silvino wore athletic gear and blue-and-yellow Asicsthe trails were too slippery, the roads too hard, for huaraches. Use FindLaw to hire a local tax lawyer near you to help structure an offer and compromise, fight IRS collections, and assist with wage and garnishment releases. I have never heard It was the eighth-annual ultramarathon here, and 120 runners, mostly Tarahumara, were going to set off from its plaza. Thats whats hard to understand, he added. AKA: Robert C Chambers, Claude Chambers, Bob Chambers Work: - Electrical Contractor, Amarillo Construction LLC - Chief Executive Officer College: TEXAS STATE TECH COLLEGE WEST TEXAS High School: TASCOSA HIGH SCHOOL View Reputation Profile Robert Wayne Chambers , 59 Lives in Leander, TX AKA: Robert W Chambers He passed fields with corn stalks as tall as the cabins beside them, and a few loose cows and goats. At one point, he said, when Chambers drug-loaded truck stalled near the border, Thompson quickly appeared to give him a jump. ), he added. That same summer, Silvino landed a job as a manager for a chia cultivation project for 400 pesos (about $20) a day. Vega readily told him what had happenedas he did to the agents who arrested him, along with all but one in his groupbut when Chambers described his offense, Vega couldnt understand why the charges were so severe. But by the time he arrived, what he found was troubling: because of years of drought, famine, and encroaching cartel violence, in some areas the tribes running traditions were almost entirely dormant. There was also a lot of work leading up to that trial that required international relationships, he said. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Agent Fort identified this Suburban as the vehicle usually driven by the Presidio County Sheriff Richard Dee Thompson, Stinson stated. He grew up believing hed never see him again outside of prison. Chambers was well acquainted with smugglers from Mexico and eventually became close to Pablo Acosta, the drug lord of Ojinaga. The 1986 case was an extremely high-profile one, full of exactly the sorts of twists and turns that kept people interested. At 10:42, the first runner appeared on the cobblestone alley leading to the finish. Remote and rugged, West Texas, along with much of the southwestern United States, has long been a key drug-smuggling corridor. It didnt make sense, Vega said, and worse, it was unfair. Case Details Parties Dockets Case Details Case Number: At first, Vega didn't seem to. far west texas when austin-based journalist rob d'amico started calling west texans in 2017, asking what they knew about robert chambers, rick thompson and the 1991 billion dollar bust of a cocaine-filled horse trailer in presidio county, many "quite frankly said, 'this is done, you don't need to dredge it up,'" d'amico said in an interview The third time, though, in February 2007, Border Patrol agents found him and two others hiding in creosote bushes one hundred miles west of Las Cruces, with three backpacks that totaled 194 pounds. International runners and film crews descended on the Sierra Tarahumara. It was a place people were trying to leaveto run fromnot where you go to make something of yourself. In his book on his travels through the Sierra Madre mountains, Unknown Mexico, he recounts that when the Jesuits first arrived and asked the Tarahumara about the canyons depth, they replied, Only the birds know., For centuries the Tarahumara got by as subsistence farmers. The 2,421 pounds of cocaine later would test to be 93 percent pure, and was worth about $50 million. He grew up on the family farm in the Iron Duff community along with his brothers Howard and Earl Chambers. Robert Chambers in Texas We found 15 records for Robert Chambers in Lolita, Round Rock and 11 other cities in Texas. The tribes runners had never ventured far from home and remained largely unknown until 1993, when an opportunistic American photographer named Rick Fisher brought several members, including a 55-year-old grandfather and a 40-something goat farmer, to an old Colorado mining town called Leadville to enter its 100-mile ultramarathon. I think its worth it. He laughed at the memory of a rarajipari when an opposing team cast a spell on his team. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents left him in Jurez without enough money for a bus ticket home. Makawi had also met with the wives of those who, like Sebastian Vega, were in prison in the U.S. Word was spreading that the sicarios wanted to eliminate the two. . The expected price . Thompson in a portrait with his jail staff. He enticed locals to enter by promising food vouchers to anyone who finished. Silvino swore he would never run drugs again, but by 2010, there was still not enough food to eat. Escuder had recently defended a Tarahumara man in his fifties who, they realized, had been in Vegas brickmaking crew. Studied Registered Nurse at Lone Star College System Class of 2008 Associates of Applied Science in Nursing Studied Trumpet Performance at Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester September 1, 1993 - May 15, 1994 Studied at Spring High School Class of 1993 High school Went to Spring High School Photos See all photos In one week, he could make what usually took three months of labor in the Sierraand there was little work. For finishing third, Silvino earned 8,000 pesos, enough to remain free of the cartels, at least for a while longer. almost entirely dormant. International runners arrived to find armed gangs in the streets of Urique, while local government officials assured the competitors there were no problems. Up ahead, they saw the lights of a highway and knew they were within a dozen miles of their drop-off. In these rugged gorges, they developed a unique running style that eventually brought them fame. In late 1965, he enlisted in the Marines, serving in Vietnam as a radio man and military policeman. Some folks called him cocky. Many Tarahumara were forced to grow these crops, their wages docked and their land stolen. Soon after, his mother was arrested for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He left three years later as a sergeant. Meanwhile, as ultramarathons surged in popularity, American runners began crushing previously held records. This was the most common drug crossing in her cases, she said. They moved up and down the Interstate 35 corridor so often that Chambers lost count of the number of schools he attended. He passed fields with corn stalks as tall as the cabins beside them, and a few loose cows and goats. When youre desperate, youll do anything. No one, even back then, would have trusted someone with that quantity of drugs, unless they had a reliable track record. Thompson claimed 147 arrests fewer than 50 were made. As the cocaine smuggling route changed from Florida to West Texas, Stinson took an assignment in Alpine and began investigating Robert Chambers with the intention of following his drug distribution to higher levels across the U.S. Stinson and his co-investigator, Kelly Cook with U.S. Customs, cultivated a key informant (Sam Thomas) who turned on Chambers and led agents to the cocaine Thompson stored in the horse trailer at the Presidio County Fairgrounds. Soon he was recruited to run drugs into Texas. Below are the results we could find for Robert Chambers. Wearing sandals and swigging beers at the final aid station before the finish, the Tarahumara runners captured first, second, and fifth place and left behind hundreds of mesmerized competitors and fans. Chambers grew up on the border. February 10, 1946 - March 16, 2019 Tribute Wall Obituary & Events Share a memory Send Flowers Obituary Robert "Bob" Chambers, 73, of Elma, Iowa passed away Saturday, March 16, 2019 at home surrounded by his loving family. Witnessed: Borderlands is a new true-crime podcast from journalist Rob D'Amico, set during the peak of the War On Drugs. Silvino flung his bags into the sand and began to run. I still wanted to see the town where he had spent time as a boy-where many backpackers make their crossing todayso instead, I went with Rogers. The result, Stinson said, was an outcome he did not entirely agree with. Robert Chambers has stated that he feels sorry about what happened to Jennifer, noting that he feels like he is on trial every day of his life. Runners would have to reach the plaza, grab another bracelet, and then double back to the edge of town before returning. When Border Patrol agents arrested this group of six and weighed the marijuana bricksall 256 poundsthey realized that one felt different. Competitors from all over the world, electrified by Born to Run, made the pilgrimage to the Tarahumara homeland. It was a half hour after midnight and Silvino Cubesare Quimare was approaching the ghost town of Separ, in southwest New Mexico. The squat white ejido headquarters proclaimed Porochi as the Tierra de Corredores, or the Land of Runners. It was the halfway point. Silvino emerged from the forest onto a roadreally a collection of rocks and dirt. The drug lord known as El Zorro de Ojinaga (The Ojinaga Fox) was a mentor to Chambers and played a significant role as The Plaza who controlled all drug movement through the region into the U.S. Acosta, who was gunned down in 1987 by Mexican federales (with the assistance of the FBI) is featured in the recent Narcos Mexico series and the book Drug Lord, by former El Paso Times reporter Terrance Poppa. 118 Oak Shadows Cv Hawkins, TX 75765 2324 Saddlebrook Ln Rockwall, TX 75087 1651 Airport Rd Rockwall, TX 75087 460 County Road 2375 Saltillo, TX 75478. The female racers wore their everyday clothes: skirts full of reds, yellows, pinks, and blues, and matching head scarves to block the sun. Six months after Vegas case landed on Chamberss desk, he managed to beat the meth rap. Robert Stanley Chambers Obituary. $10.00 + $4.99 shipping . After his release, it took Silvino two months to get home. Then, all at once, they saw the spotlights. John MacCormack has been covering South Texas and the Mexican border for the past 35 years, first for the Dallas Times Herald and since 1992 for the Express-News. That was my last case, and Rick was kind of the orchestra leader in trying to coordinate relationships with not only the witnesses, but the local people and federal authorities. Now 56, he lives in El Paso. He became frustrated with the legal system, which he felt was too focused on punishing his family members for their addictions rather than helping them. He laughed at the memory of a. Robert Leroy Chambers Obituary It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Robert Leroy Chambers of Victoria, Texas, who passed away on June 21, 2022, at the age of 66, leaving to mourn family and friends. His wife, Hilda, begged him not to go, but he felt he had no choice. The six-foot-two Chambers towered over him by more than a foot. He made a living in one of the harshest lands on the continent, Rogers said. Stinson was the lead investigator for the Drug Enforcement Agency in the bust. During the race, the slower runners tended to set the early pace, while the closers bided their time. He was in third place. The nickname some people gave him here was Walking Tall, Rivera recalled. Federal agents and others had learned that his nickname in Mexico was La Puerta, the door to smuggling. 2016Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pa. 2015 Chambers Bay, University Place, Wash. 2014Pinehurst No. Thompson is being released this month after serving 26 years in prison for cocaine smuggling. None of his companions had made it out. He also enlisted the two best Tarahumara runners: Silvino, who was 28 at the time, and his younger cousin Arnulfo Quimare Qui. Find top Chambers County, TX Mergers & Acquisitions lawyers and attorneys. Show Phone. Then, with the path hugging a creek, he entered tiny Porochi. At first, Vega didnt seem to understand what Chambers was saying through his translator. His first time, in 2005, he did just that, tossing his mochila into the back of a truck on a highway near El Paso. An informant had told the federal drug agents a tantalizing tale. He was conditioned to navigating switchbacks. Silvino came into town only five minutes behind second place. Thompson remained free after the drugs were seized. Chambers remembers law enforcement coming to his house after his father had been arrested, though he was too young to comprehend the reason. Robert Chambers is a resident of Austin. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, Former Presidio County Sheriff Rick Thompson. Silvino wore athletic gear and blue-and-yellow Asicsthe trails were too slippery, the roads too hard, for huaraches. He wanted to thank his lawyer for helping him. A reception will be held in her honor at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Baytown, Texas from 4-6 pm on Saturday, January 21. He accompanied her to court as an intern. 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