The judge who earlier this year jailed a Puerto Vallarta lawyer for the “presumed” extortion of the late Thomas White has found herself at the center of a storm following allegations that she attended a party thrown by the late millionaire’s chief attorney.
White, a wealthy stockbroker and philanthropist who moved to Vallarta in 1990, was accused of sexually abusing local children from impoverished homes and supplying them with drugs. He was convicted in 2005 and died in prison last week, as he continued to fight an extradition request from the United States, where he was wanted in connection with similar offenses. Earlier this year, White won a victory of sorts when Vallarta judge Gabriela Enriquez issued arrest warrants for six men his lawyers claimed had persuaded “underage boys to falsely claim that White raped them while plying them with drugs and alcohol.”
One of the accused was Vallarta-based lawyer Mauricio Rodriguez Borrego, who seven years earlier led and won seven-million-dollar civil suit against White on behalf of 20 young Mexican plaintiffs in a U.S District Court. After Enriquez’s ruling, Rodriguez was arrested in Vallarta on February 24 and has been incarcerated there ever since. The five others indicted are either serving jail terms for unrelated offenses or are at large.This week, Rodriguez’s legal team presented a complaint with state authorities claiming Enriquez was present at a party at Vallarta’s luxurious Casa Garza Blanca that was hosted by White’s chief legal advisor Stewart Haverlack. Photographic and video evidence was submitted to substantiate the charge that both were present at the event.
The Jalisco Supreme Court will now rule whether Enriquez has become embroiled in a conflict of interest and fallen foul of laws prohibiting judges to associate socially with anyone involved in a case they are presiding over.