Two more corruption arrests

A new year, and the corruption busts keep coming. Wednesday was a busy day when it came to arrest ing CBP officers. In Yuma, Arizona, a 41-year-old CBPO and his wife were arrested on bribery charges after allowing 600,000 fake ecstasy pills to be smuggled through his inspection lane during what turned out to be a sting operation.

Nearly 2,000 miles away, a Brownsville CBPO was busted for allowing unauthorized immigrants to be smuggled into the country, along with more than 30 pounds of cocaine to be smuggled into the country through his lane.

And earlier in the month, a former Border Patrol Agent stationed in Arizona, Jose Luis Sanchez, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for taking bribes to smuggled marijuana into the country (press release after the jump) while Salomon Ruiz, 34, and Leonel Morales, 30, cousins who were both Border Patrol agents, pleaded guilty in separate hearings to accepting bribes from drug smugglers to guide loads of cocaine into the country. They were arrested in December in Texas.

With the violence in Mexico, particularly in border cities like Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, the pressure seems greater than ever to find a corruptible border agent. The Department of Homeland Security may have met its hiring goals with patrol agents, but have they met their goals with internal affairs agents is another question.

CUSTOMS OFFICIAL AND HIS WIFE CHARGED WITH ACCEPTING BRIBES TO SMUGGLE DRUGS INTO U.S.

YUMA, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer, Henry M. Gauani, 41, and his wife Flora A. Gauani, aka Kitty, 46, both of Yuma, were arrested without incident on Tuesday night and charged with Conspiracy to Accept a Bribe by a Public Official for their part of a scheme in which over 600,000 fake ecstasy pills were allowed to pass through the San Luis, Ariz. (Yuma) Port of Entry (POE) into the United States.

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According to the complaint unsealed today in federal court, an informant had told federal authorities that the Gauanis (aka Mr. and Mrs. Wong) had allowed undocumented Chinese aliens to pass through Henry Gauani’s POE inspection lane sometime in the past. The complaint also alleges that the Gauani’s entered into an agreement with this informant during which they would facilitate bringing in ecstasy pills through Henry Gauani’s inspection lane at the San Luis POE.

The complaint alleges that the Gauani’s were paid $8,000 to allow 100,000 ecstasy pills to enter into the U.S. through Henry Gauani’s inspection lane in December 2008. However, the pills were not real. As part of a joint investigation by federal law enforcement, the Gauanis were arrested on Tuesday, January 27, 2009, after allowing another shipment, of what they believed were an additional 500,000 ecstasy pills, to pass through his inspection lane. The Gauanis believed that they were to be paid $25,000 for the latest part of their scheme. The approximate street value of the 600,000 ecstasy pills they thought were being smuggled into the U.S. is almost $11 million in U.S. currency.

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From the Brownsville Herald

Federal authorities arrested an officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection after conducting an investigation into his alleged involvement in the smuggling of drugs and undocumented immigrants, officials said.

Sergio Lopez Hernandez, 40, a 12-year veteran with the agency, was arrested Wednesday while on duty at the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios. Federal authorities also raided his residence in Brownsville. More than $85,000 was found in a safe inside the house, said Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Lopez Hernandez became the subject of surveillance and undercover operations after federal agents received reports in October that he had been allowing vehicles with undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs to enter the country at the Los Indios bridge, a criminal complaint filed in federal court states. The officer allegedly received $500 per undocumented immigrant he allowed to pass through his vehicle checkpoint.

From the McAllen Monitor:

Agents admit to accepting bribes from smugglers

January 30, 2009 – 6:06 PM

Jeremy Roebuck

The Monitor

McALLEN — Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents have pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges, prosecutors said Friday.

Cousins Salomon Ruiz, 34, and Leonel Morales, 30, admitted in separate hearings to accepting more than $23,000 from drug traffickers to help guide cocaine loads into the country.

Ruiz, an agent stationed in McAllen, entered his plea at a hearing Friday, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

According to court filings, he took $14,000 over a two-year period to distract authorities while smugglers brought 25 kilograms of cocaine across the Rio Grande near La Casita, a small community east of Rio Grande City.

Ruiz admitted in a taped confession to monitoring radio traffic and activating Border Patrol sensors to ensure no other agents would enter the area.

At some point, he also introduced the smuggler he worked with to his cousin, Morales, a Border Patrol agent stationed in Zapata County.

Federal agents arrested Morales last month after investigators caught him negotiating how he would escort a 20-kilogram cocaine load through the county in exchange for $9,000. He pleaded guilty to bribery charges Jan. 6.

Attorneys for both men did not return calls for comment Friday.

They face up to 15 years in a federal prison at separate sentencing hearings set for this spring.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, January 8, 2009
FORMER BORDER PATROL AGENT SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR DRUGS AND BRIBERY
TUCSON , Ariz. —Former U.S. Border Patrol Agent Juan Luis Sanchez, 32, of Rio Rico, Ariz. , was sentenced today to 15 years in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge John M. Roll. Sanchez pleaded guilty on May 20, 2008 , to drug, bribery and worker’s compensation fraud charges. Although Sanchez was sentenced separately for each count (15 years—drug charge, 15 years—bribery charge, and five years for the worker’s comp charge), the sentences will run concurrently for a total 15 years in federal prison. Sanchez transported marijuana in his Border Patrol vehicle on six separate occasions from the mid-2002 through January 28, 2004 . The loads ranged in size from 376 pounds to 921 pounds. Sanchez estimated that he transported at least 3,000 pounds of marijuana over the course of the conspiracy and received a total of $45,000 in bribes. Sanchez also admitted to fraud relating to worker’s compensation benefits he received following an on-duty vehicle accident that occurred after the drug trafficking activities, but prior to his arrest. Sanchez admitted that by March 2008, his medical condition had improved, such that he was no longer entitled to benefits, but that he failed to notify the U.S. Department of Labor of the improvement in his condition. The investigation in this case was conducted by the Southwest Border Corruption Task Force in Tucson (comprised of law enforcement officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Office of Professional Responsibility, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and the Tucson Police Department) and by the Santa Cruz Metro Task Force, U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General. The prosecution was handled by Mary Sue Feldmeier, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Tucson . CASE NUMBER: CR-05-1005-TUC-JMR RELEASE NUMBER: 2009-008(Sanchez)