Criminal guarantees judge Víctor Hugo Ronzewski ordered the pretrial detention of Sergio Daniel Riquelme, owner of a butcher shop and pre-candidate for city council in Benjamín Aceval. Riquelme was charged by the Public Prosecutor's Office with cattle rustling and receiving, in an investigation led by prosecutor Irán Suárez.
The indictment alleges that the politician led a group that slaughtered other people's animals and then sold the meat at his own commercial establishment. Riquelme is seeking the nomination for the Municipal Council within the Cartes movement, on list 2X, option 8, with the backing of mayoral pre-candidate Carolina Centurión.
The case came to light when police caught three people at the Santa Marta Ranch, at kilometer 97 of the Transchaco route. There, officers intercepted Virgilio Amarilla Achar, Arnildo Urbieta Portillo and Yésica Rosalba Morales Meza as they were preparing to load eight bags of beef.
In their statements, Amarilla and Urbieta confessed that they acted under Riquelme's orders, calling him "the boss." They said the pre-candidate told them which animal to slaughter, supplied the rifle used in the crime, and provided cash for operational expenses.
Yésica Morales, who was responsible for transport, admitted that the meat was ultimately bound for the San Agustín Butcher Shop, owned by Riquelme. She detailed that communication took place via WhatsApp messages, in which they referred to the firearm as "the machine" to avoid suspicion.
During the hearing, Riquelme denied the charges. The pre-candidate claimed that Yésica Morales is one of his "political operatives" and that the frequent calls and messages between them were solely related to campaign work. The court, however, found the arguments insufficient. The admission of a subsidiary private criminal action by the owners of Estancia Don Mateo S.A. bolstered the prosecution's position, resulting in the pretrial detention order to prevent the suspect from obstructing the proceedings.