Río Bravo Mayor Miguel Ángel Almaraz Maldonado previously imprisoned for fuel theft

Miguel Ángel Almaraz Maldonado, the current PAN mayor of Río Bravo, was previously imprisoned for nearly six years following his 2009 arrest for alleged involvement in a fuel theft and smuggling network.

Authorities from the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) and Federal Police apprehended Almaraz as part of an investigation into a criminal group operating in the Cuenca de Burgos. The network was accused of stealing hydrocarbons from collection fields and transporting them via tankers to the United States using fraudulent customs documentation. During the investigation, authorities identified 149 bank accounts with movements totaling approximately 46 million dollars and 750 million pesos between 2007 and 2008.

Almaraz, who transitioned politically from the PRD to independent candidacies and finally to the PAN, was released from the Tepic Federal Center for Social Readaptation on January 3, 2015. His release was ordered by a magistrate due to violations of due process. Prior to his arrest, the military had seized 45,000 liters of fuel from a warehouse owned by Almaraz in 2007.