( BROWNSVILLE, Texas) – A U.S. Probation Officer has been indicted for allegedly providing sensitive and protected information and documents to unauthorized persons in exchange for money, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today. 

Juan D. Muniz, 28, of McAllen, a U.S. Probation Officer assigned to the McAllen office, was indicted by a Houston grand jury Wednesday, March 19, 2008. The indictment, returned under seal, was unsealed Friday, March 21, following Muniz’s initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio in Brownsville, Texas, where he was ordered temporarily detained until his bond hearing scheduled for Monday, March 24 at 9:30 a.m. Muniz was arrested by FBI agents without incident at a local restaurant in McAllen Thursday, March 20.  

The first count of the four-count indictment charges that from Jan. 3 through March 19, 2008, Muniz corruptly demanded and received $5,000 for delivering to another a Pre-Sentence Investigation Report, a sensitive and protected document, in violation of his lawful official duty as a United States Probation Officer. The remaining counts accuse Muniz of receiving illegal gratuities totaling approximately $4,000 on three separate occasions in October and November 2007 in exchange for disclosing sensitive and protected information and documents obtained from materials located in the U.S. Probation Office.

A federal conviction for bribery carries a penalty of not more than 15 years imprisonment and/or a fine not to exceed $250,000. A conviction for receiving illegal gratuities carries a penalty of not more than two years imprisonment and/or a fine not to exceed $250,000.

The investigation leading to the charges was conducted by agents of the McAllen Office of the FBI and will be prosecuted in the Brownsville Division by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Wright and Pat Profit.

A indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.