Judge sets bond at $100,000 for manager arrested during ropa usada raids

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A judge on Monday set bond at $100,000 for a ropa usada manager who allegedly hired people without permission to work in the United States.

Madiam Jahnai Escobedo, 37, of Mission worked at Moon Rise Trading Corporation, a family-owned ropa usada warehouse on South 23rd Street.

Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sent an informant to Moon Rise Trading in June.

The informant “portrayed themselves to be an illegal alien,” according to a criminal complaint filed against Escobedo.

Moon Rise Trading, however, hired the informant anyway.

“While engaged in work, the informant had recorded conversation with multiple other employees,” according to the criminal complaint. They “identified themselves as illegal aliens or claimed to not have the necessary documents to work lawfully in the U.S.”

The informant received “direct supervision and direction” from Escobedo, according to the criminal complaint.

Homeland Security Investigations raided at least four ropa usada warehouses, including Moon Rise Trading, on Oct. 2.

During the raid, agents “encountered no fewer than eleven (11) individuals who are citizens and nationals of Mexico,” according to the criminal complaint, “without the necessary documents to obtain employment in the United States.”

Several employees identified Escobedo or members of her family as the people who hired them.

Agents also discovered a backpack that contained about $100,000 in cash.

Homeland Security Investigations charged Escobedo with harboring people without legal status in the United States, which is a federal felony, and unlawful employment, a misdemeanor.

Escobedo appeared in court Monday afternoon wearing a gray sweatshirt and black pants.

A report prepared by U.S. Pretrial Services recommended the court set bond at $50,000 with no cash deposit.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Cook Profit, who is prosecuting the case, objected to the amount and the lack of a deposit.

Escobedo is part of a wealthy family with at least $30 million in assets, Profit said, adding that corporate records suggested Escobedo had access to her family’s money.

The government hadn’t determined what, exactly, Escobedo owned or how much family money she might be able to access.

“This is a web of corporations and entities,” Profit said.

Attorney Carlos A. Garcia of Mission, who represents Escobedo, pushed back.

“There’s nothing to support that in the record,” Garcia said.

Escobedo is a United States citizen who attended high school in Sharyland and graduated from the University of Texas-Pan American. She’s married with two children and no criminal record.

“The government, again, is floundering,” Garcia said. “Trying to find some sort of nefarious acts.”

Profit disagreed.

After her arrest, Escobedo’s family wrote letters to the court, urging the judge to set bond. They described her as a devoted mother.

Along with the letters, Profit said the court should consider her family’s assets.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis settled on a $100,000 bond — double what Pretrial Services recommended — with a $10,000 cash deposit.

Garcia said he believed the government targeted Moon Rise Trading for financial reasons.

“The government could do the same thing at every other pulga that we have on the highway here, but there’s no money there,” Garcia said. “The reason the government goes after people like my clients and businesses like my client’s is because there’s a deep pocket.”