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AP - A federal judge ordered the release of former Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon early Tuesday, saying officials lacked evidence to charge him with illegal weapons possession after a military raid on his house.




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Mexican judge orders release of ex-mayor of Tijuana

By Sandra Dibble | SDUT
6:26 a.m., June 14, 2011

A Mexican federal judge early today ordered the release of Jorge Hank Rhon from a state penitentiary after finding that federal prosecutors had failed to provide enough evidence to warrant holding the former Tijuana mayor for trial on weapons charges, supporters said.

But after ten days in detention, Hank was not going home, at least not right away. State authorities immediately took the 55-year-old gambling magnate into custody at El Hongo Penitentiary east of Tecate. A source close to the Hank family, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that he was driven to a unit of the Baja California Attorney General’s Office in in Playas de Tijuana.

State authorities could not be immediately reached. Two of the weapons seized from Hank’s compound on June 4 have been linked to homicides in Tijuana in 2009 and 2010, and Baja California's attorney general has said that Hank could be called in for questioning.

There was no official confirmation of the federal ruling, but it was widely reported in the Mexican media and by Hank’s supporters. Judge Blanca Evelia Parra Meza of the Ninth Circuit Court in Baja California had until 3:10 a.m. today to decide whether to release Hank or hold him for trial.

Hank has been in custody since June 4, when he and ten others were detained by Mexican soldiers on charges of illegal arms possession. Federal authorities said 88 firearms and more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition were seized during the early morning operation.

The 55-year-old gambling magnate has maintained his innocence of charges that he kept the weapons on his Tijuana estate behind the Agua Caliente racetrack. While the federal order is a major victory for Hank’s legal defense, prosecutors have six months to present more evidence.

Early this morning, hundreds of Hank supporters awaited the news outside El Hongo Penintentiary east of Tecate, where he was being held. They have been calling for his release since his June 4 arrest, organizing a demonstration, passing a petition and distributing bumper stickers.

Though dogged for years by accusations of illicit activities, until this month he had never been charged with a serious crime. One of Mexico’s wealthiest citizens, Hank oversees Grupo Caliente, whose holdings include a string of off-track betting businesses throughout Mexico, Latin America and Europe. He is also owner of the Xoloitzcuintles soccer team.

Hank is also connected to the upper echelons of Mexico’s once-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI. His father, Carlos Hank Gonzalez, was a powerful PRI politician from the state of Mexico, and Hank has stated his intention of running for governor of Baja California in 2013.


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AP - A flamboyant gambling magnate-turned politician won a second round against state and federal prosecutors Tuesday after a judge refused a request to hold him in an investigation into the 2009 killing of his son's girlfriend.




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Reuters - Detained Mexican tycoon and former city mayor Jorge Hank Rhon walked free on Tuesday, days after the army found a weapons cache in his home, in an embarrassment for President Felipe Calderon.




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AP - The dismissal of charges against a former Tijuana mayor allegedly caught with 88 guns at his home could set a worrisome example of allowing illegal weapons possession to go unpunished, Mexico's top organized crime prosecutor said Wednesday.

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Well now !! how in the could one conclude that....

Right in front of God and Country... what a pair he's got...