Mexican judge finds ex-state police director not guilty of aiding drug gang in Michoacan

Mexico frees ex-state police director in drug case

MORELIA, Mexico — A Mexican judge has found the former state police director in the western state of Michoacan innocent of charges he helped a drug gang.

Mario Bautista was arrested by federal investigators in May 2009 along with 34 other local and state officials in Michoacan. Twenty-six of them have already been set free for lack of evidence or after a judge found them innocent.

Bautista says he has been in public service for 35 years and is willing to go back to his job if Michoacan’s governor asks him to.

Bautista received the news Wednesday from his lawyers at a hospital where he is being treated for colon cancer.

The Pacific coast state of Michoacan is a battleground between the Gulf cartel and the newer La Familia cartel.