By DINA ARÉVALO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
January 8, 2015
Trial dates have been set in the cases of Port Isabel father and son Orlando Ochoa, Sr. and Orlando Ochoa, Jr. The pair will be tried in both County Court and State District Court.
The elder Ochoa will be tried in the 103rd State District Court with Judge Janet Leal on Jan. 26. There he faces a 3rd degree felony charge of Obstruction or Retaliation and a State Jail Felony charge of Tampering with a Witness.
Then, on April 6, he will be given a jury trial in Cameron County Court No. 2 with Judge Laura Betancourt. He will be tried for assault that causes bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor, and making a terroristic threat, a Class D misdemeanor. A previous charge of tampering with a witness was dismissed.
Orlando Ochoa, Jr. will be in the same courts on the same days as his father, but in separate proceedings. He, too, will go to trial on January 26 in the 103rd State District Court for an Obstruction or Retaliation charge. Then on April 6, he will be tried in County Court No. 2 for assault that causes bodily injury.
Prosecution of the father and son duo stems after an April incident of campaign rivalry gone awry. As previously reported in the PRESS, Cameron County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the first block of Industrial Drive on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. There they made contact with Daniel Grava, who had allegedly been paid by Ochoa, Sr. to steal campaign signs belonging to Maria de Jesus Garza, the political rival of Ochoa, Sr.’s wife, Robin. Robin Ochoa was looking to unseat the county commissioner during municipal elections last May.
According to a police report, Grava stated he was assaulted by Ochoa, Sr. and his son once they learned he had confessed to the sign stealing and had named the elder Ochoa as an accomplice.
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