In his book on his travels through the Sierra Madre mountains, Unknown Mexico, he recounts that when the Jesuits first arrived and asked the Tarahumara about the canyons depth, they replied, Only the birds know., For centuries the Tarahumara got by as subsistence farmers. Log In. The sheriffs office in Marfa where former Sheriff Rick Thompson. Search law firms at FindLaw. Competitors from all over the world, electrified by Born to Run, made the pilgrimage to the Tarahumara homeland. Then, all at once, they saw the spotlights. It was cool now, but the temperature would climb into the 70s. Thompson was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole, but a change in sentencing guidelines led to his eventual release in April of 2018. It was the eighth-annual ultramarathon here, and 120 runners, mostly Tarahumara, were going to set off from its plaza. Scanning his new clients arrest report, Chambers expected the details to coalesce into the usual pattern, but he noticed an anomaly. His stature as a political figure and a leader of law enforcement at the time made people seek him out for advice. Sunlight broke through the slim canopy. The journalist Christopher McDougall chronicled the race, and his ensuing bookBorn to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seenbecame an international sensation, igniting a global running craze. Rick Thompson was widely admired by Marfa residents and was a shoe-in for his upcoming election to a fifth term as Presidio County Sheriff. Rogers pulled off on Farm-to-Market Road 2810, better known as Pinto Canyon Road, where the asphalt ended. He was doing this stuff and they never knew. From then on gunfire could routinely be heard in the town and up the canyon. Mounds of melon-size rocks blanketed every grave. ClustrMaps. Buchmeyer gave him the max: Two life terms without a chance of parole. After the fairgrounds drug bust, he cut a deal to testify against the sheriff. Most of the visiting runners, who had come from 23 countries, made their way out under military escort. The downfall of Rick Thompson was such a devastating occurrence for the people of Marfa and Presidio County, that this phenomenon should be addressed, wrote the authors of the two-volume history of the community. It was a twenty-minute drive downhill to the square, which Silvino would be running back up for the first leg of the race: these six miles were a steep climb of 1,500 feet. He considered skipping the race, which was 37 miles, but the next event was four months away. And he gained notoriety for breaking a man accused of rape in the U.S. out of a Mexican prison, dragging him back across the border and tying him to a tree naked for the local authorities to find. At first, Vega didnt seem to understand what Chambers was saying through his translator. e cartel war ricocheted from one canyon to the next, Urique became one of the last towns to be engulfed by intense violence. His mother had been a running champion in her day, and one of her sisters was the mother of Arnulfo, his greatest competitor. Federal and state drug enforcement agents arrested Glyn Robert Chambers and the popular sheriff of Presidio County, Rick Thompson, after an informant tipped them off to a red horse trailer containing 2,400 pounds of cocaine on the fairgrounds in Marfa. Chambers told Vega that it was a good deal, and it helped when the Federal Bureau of Prisons sent back a recommendation of 46 months instead of 60. In these rugged gorges, they developed a unique running style that eventually brought them fame. In the end, it was Chambers who used Thompson. The only difference is that cops carry badges, he said. A few years earlier, the Sinaloa and Jurez cartels had begun escalating their fight for control of billion-dollar fields of marijuana and poppy in the so-called Golden Triangle, where the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Durango converge in the Sierra. He quickly worked his way up to a key operator in smuggling drugs into the U.S. and after Acostas death, he even held the title of The Plaza (the kingpin who controlled all drug movement through Ojinaga)a strange position for an American. In Spanish, the judge ran through the conditions of the imprisonment twice so Vega could understand. And so when Micah True hosted the second Caballo Blanco, Silvino couldnt make the race; he was sitting in a New Mexico prison. Escuders client had been sentenced to eighteen months in federal prisonsix months longer than others in his group because hed had the misfortune of appearing before a different judge. He built a small adobe house for his wife and children and another for his parents and siblings, and he fixed up an old truck so he could bring his harvest into the town of Urique to sell. That summer, he saw around four hundred cases come through the Alpine office, and within a few years its annual caseload had more than doubled. MR. EDITOR--I desire to find my brother; his name was Robert Co- . At first, Vega didn't seem to. For Silvino, new opportunities eventually arose from the attention generated by the book. There were hairpin turns where the drop-off was thousands of feet, and he passed several roadside memorials. Meanwhile, budget cuts meant the number of lawyers (four) stayed the same. With Vegas case resolved, Chambers moved on. International runners arrived to find armed gangs in the streets of Urique, while local government officials assured the competitors there were no problems. Robert and Kimberly both received bachelor's degrees in business administration from Texas A&M and were members of the Fellows program. In the past twenty years, there has been a fivefold increase in Border Patrol agents working that stretch of border, up to nearly 20,000. He ate a sandwich and drank a bottle of Coca-Cola. She helped organize the largest-ever recorded rarajipari in ChihuahuaSilvino led one of the teamsand together they traveled to Brazil, in October 2015, for the inaugural World Indigenous Games. He read about villages that had no electricity or running water and that were full of ex-felons. After walking for ten days in the harsh borderland, their guide had abandoned them that morning. They moved up and down the Interstate 35 corridor so often that Chambers lost count of the number of schools he attended. Just across the border were powerful drug lords such as Pablo Acosta, the boss of Ojinaga, who was killed in a shootout in Mexico in April 1987. No one, even back then, would have trusted someone with that quantity of drugs, unless they had a reliable track record. Almost like brothers, one observer said. Silvino, a farmer with four children, knew the canyons the way urban dwellers know city streets: every rock, cactus, and river bend was a sign. Nobody was warming up when he arrived; the Tarahumara dont stretch. Find Robert Chambers in Midland, TX - phone, address, email. He was in third place. At 7:48, Silvino spotted the worn arrow that directed runners to take the footpath to the scenic overlook called El Mirador del Cerro del Gallego. During the day, they slept beneath frayed creosote bushes, concealing their bags nearby, and at night they trudged north toward the freeway, avoiding rattlesnakes, coyotes, and most of all, la migra, the Border Patrol. He attended school in Alpine, Texas, where he later bought a ranch. He is preceded in death by his parents, Ralph E. and Lois C. Chambers also of Winter Haven. When the DEA tried to contact him, he referred them to his lawyer. In the Tarahumara, the cartels found literal drug runners, who not only could cover incredible distances but were desperate enough to do it. When Chambers arrived at the detention facility, the 39-year-old Vega stood up to greet his lawyer. He and his cousins would be paid 15,000 pesos ($825) apiece. He would share his produce with family, friends, and neighbors, a true labor of love. Its wistful melody is reserved for joyous occasions, when Tarahumara dance to its repetitive interplay of violin and guitar. Silvino felt the adrenaline course through him, and he told himself to escape to the mountains theyd crossed on their way north. Offender is currently in the Parole Review Process The parole review process begins approximately six months before the parole eligibility date for a first review and four months before the eligibility date in additional reviews. Silvino picked up speed as the trail descended toward the village of Porochi. After his release, it took Silvino two months to get home. Now serving his sixth term as Presidio County sheriff, Danny Dominguez, 55, is one of the few in town who had a direct tie to Thompson. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hardin United Methodist Church Choir, which she loved being a part of. But beginning in the sixteenth century the tribe fled Spanish invaders, Jesuit missionaries, and Mexican settlersand their fatal diseases, forced labor, and attempted conversionsretreating into the Sierra Madres forbidding landscape. Still, of the dozens and dozens of clients hed defended, it was Vega, and the plight of the Tarahumara, that stuck with him. But, as they staked it out, they realized they were not alone. Stinson was the lead investigator for the Drug Enforcement Agency in the bust. But Vega pleaded guilty to the marijuana charge; there was no other recourse. Location Bellevue, WA, US Work Localization Editor @ The Pokmon Company International QA Localization Tester- Bilingual German and English @ 2k Vegas Quality Analyst @ Teleperformance see more Education Silvino followed the creek, skirting red-and-white fields of poppy. He attributed part of the Tarahumaras success to their minimal footwear; they ran with a lightness unfamiliar to American runners, landing on the midpoint of their foot instead of the heel. Though the Tarahumara largely kept to themselves, poverty and hunger made them targets for narcos looking for mules willing to make the demanding trek to designated drug drop-off points in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. He scrambled down a cliff-side trail so narrow that only one person could traverse it at a time. How could he be responsible for all the backpacks when he only carried one? International runners and film crews descended on the Sierra Tarahumara. Robert Chambers was born in New York City on September 25, 1966, to Robert Chambers, Sr. and Phyllis Chambers. Organizers across the world sought Tarahumara runners for their races, and those who moved comfortably among chabochi, or outsiders, began receiving regular invitations to race. He was 36, but people still remembered him from the summer of 1986 when he was 19. When Chambers was still in law school, in 2012, Rogers had helped introduce him to the federal courts that were handling the influx of people and drugs coming across the border. He glanced over his right shoulder at the river that snaked through the canyon of the same name. Texas Department of Criminal Justice | PO Box 99 . They lived in the same indigent neighborhood on the edge of Chihuahua. The South Bank Show returns to Sky Artsthis November with a sensational line-up of exclusive interviews, showcasing six brilliant women from across the arts: comedian Tracey Ullman, soul singer Beverley Knight, opera star Danielle de Niese, theatre producer Sonia Friedman, publishing powerhouse Gail Rebuck and a special show highlighting the importance of the arts in education . Man, I never saw this coming. In time, the backpackers shed come to represent were known to ask for her by name. It just shattered people. After the news broke of Thompsons possible link to the horse trailer, his supporters, including law officers and judges, rallied around him, convinced it all was a mistake or a setup. Instead, groups of up to two dozen Mexican nationals at a time, arrested for smuggling drugs or illegal entry, were marched in front of the judge throughout the day. He attended school in Alpine, Texas, where he later bought a ranch. Learn more about your ad choices. Some Tarahumara activists tried to make their plight known, like Irma Chvez Cruz, a 25-year-old mother who was a friend of Silvinos. Chambers was well acquainted with smugglers from Mexico and eventually became close to Pablo Acosta, the drug lord of Ojinaga. Silvino emerged from the forest onto a roadreally a collection of rocks and dirt. Ott-Laughlin Funeral Home OBITUARY Robert Mark Chambers March 17, 1943 - January 9, 2014 Chambers, Robert Mark ("Bob"), 70, of Winter Haven and Ft. Pierce, Florida passed away of heart failure January 9, 2014. A landmark in Marfa, the old Presidio County Courthouse housed Rick Thompsons tax assessors office. They had come from as far away as Chihuahua, riding two buses for eleven hours combined. Then again, he spent much of his life severed from them. He and his cousins would be paid 15,000 pesos ($825) apiece. At the aid station, he declined water and collected a paper bracelet to confirm he had passed. People who know me, know Im not that kind of person, Dominguez said. We know that Earlene Love, Erline Love, and three other persons also lived at this address, perhaps within a different time frame. In the days leading up to the race, competitors ground corn for an energy drink called pinole (and set aside a fermented version as their post-race celebratory beer, tesgino). Thirty minutes later, the second finisher arrived, and Silvino three minutes after him. Up ahead, they saw the lights of a highway and knew they were within a dozen miles of their drop-off. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents left him in Jurez without enough money for a bus ticket home. View Robert H Chambers's profile for company associations, background information, and partnerships. He hadnt been feeling well and had visited a hospital the day before. They had a huge drug bust, but the end result was they got a tiny amount of drugs from college kids, cooks and drifters, McNamara recalled. . He also made a cryptic remark that wounded every law enforcement agent in the Big Bend. He left three years later as a sergeant. Find top Chambers County, TX Mergers & Acquisitions lawyers and attorneys. Now 68, he lives in Alpine, Texas. Only a change in federal sentencing law years later spared Thompson from dying in prison. Hed run rarajipari as a boy, and, per Tarahumara tradition, gambled on the race from an early age, winning soap, pens, and sometimes even a chicken. They owned a house on West Washington Street, and the youngest of their three children still was at home. Jail Location Around the same time, federal defenders in Alpine had represented a pair of Tarahumara teenagers also recruited in Chihuahua. He passed fields with corn stalks as tall as the cabins beside them, and a few loose cows and goats. Robert Chambers is a resident of Austin. A beloved law officer had betrayed the badge, causing a tragedy of epic proportions for his family and the town. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, Former Presidio County Sheriff Rick Thompson. Paul Chambers was sitting in his Alpine office when he got an email about a new client named Sebastian Vega Genoveva waiting for him in jail. Listing provided by TMLS PeopleFinders is the best people search for contact info and public records. For months, Huisuchi had been cursed with drought. Later came the even more formidable Amado Carrillo Fuentes, leader of the Jurez cartel. Silvino, a farmer with four children, knew the canyons the way urban dwellers know city streets: every rock, cactus, and river bend was a sign. Three were for illegal purchases of six-packs of beer, McNamara wrote in late 1991. Chambers, a violent, lawless man long suspected of drug. His first time, in 2005, he did just that, tossing his mochila into the back of a truck on a highway near El Paso. According to the Mexico Citybased magazine Proceso, at least five indigenous activists were assassinated in 2015 and 2016. Tell Rick Thompson Im still investigating this. As Silvino continued to ascend, the only sounds were the buzz of white-eared hummingbirds and the musical trills of canyon and rock wrens. Under any circumstances, safeguarding so vast and wild a county with the help of only two deputies was a daunting job. For Chambers, it was one of the saddest days of his life. While Chambers has spent most of his adult life behind bars, Levin's family remains haunted by her death. Read more:Rickhoff kicks off Bexar County judge race with attacks on Wolff for "pay to play," art spending. Robert Chambers grew up on the border in south Presidio County, where his mother taught in a small school in Candelaria. His plans are unknown, but his place in the annals of law enforcement infamy, as the Texas border sheriff who sold his badge for drug money, will be secure. She sometimes joked with Chambers that he didnt know where his grandfather was buried, but he did. A DEA informant had also linked Thompson directly to the drug deal. McNamara often battled to obtain public records from officials and sued the U.S. Department of Justice in federal court in an attempt to acquire records in the Thompson case. The citizens, he said. Once there, he picked chiles to earn the bus fare farther south to Chihuahua City, where he finally cobbled together the fare to Huisuchi by making cheese at a quesera. Vega readily told him what had happenedas he did to the agents who arrested him, along with all but one in his groupbut when Chambers described his offense, Vega couldnt understand why the charges were so severe. His teammates became ill; hed been the only one not stricken. To help keep them on the ranch, his grandmother Johnnie earned a teaching degree from Sul Ross State University in her forties, and she ran the two-room schoolhouse in Candelaria for 25 years. When he met Vega again, Chambers jokingly asked, If you could run like that, why didnt you escape? Vega said he never could have evaded the agents in their trucks and helicopters. Barajas still recalls the general reaction when Thompson was implicated in the cocaine seized at the fairgrounds. He enticed locals to enter by promising food vouchers to anyone who finished. Case Details Parties Dockets Case Details Case Number: Years earlier, while serving as an attach in Mexico City, Stinson had heard Mexican federal police mention Thompson in connection with the Ojinaga drug trade. But racing couldnt alleviate the hardships ravaging the Tarahumara themselves. Show Phone. The. Chambers also was involved in several gun battles on the border, saved six hunters from a fiery plane crash in the desert, and was shot three times in the back in an assassination attempt on a Mexican fishing boat. The thick old-growth trees had been chopped down long ago and sent to the sawmills of nearby Bahuichivo. 2 . He called his colleague and friend Jaime Escuder, who had also been assigned a defendant in the case. Silvino flung his bags into the sand and began to run. At the Caballo Blanco, both Silvino and Arnulfo proved themselves, and though Jurek passed Silvino near the end of the 47 miles, he couldnt catch Arnulfo. The judge saw things differently after hearing evidence the sheriff had been corrupt since 1986 or 1987. Early the next morning, with only a little pain in his right leg, Silvino drove in a low gear down the canyon to Urique, listening to traditional Tarahumara folk music from a USB stick connected to the CD player. And over his four terms in office, Thompson had led a regional drug task force, filmed anti-drug television spots for U.S. Customs and was the president of the Sheriffs Association of Texas. 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