SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two U.S. border inspectors in Southern California have been charged with taking hundreds of {dollars} in bribes to permit folks to enter the nation via the nation’s busiest port of entry with out exhibiting paperwork, prosecutors stated.
U.S. Customs and Border Safety officers Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez had been assigned to immigration inspection cubicles on the San Ysidro Port of Entry. They had been charged after investigators discovered cellphone proof exhibiting they’d exchanged messages with human traffickers in Mexico and found unexplained money deposits into their financial institution accounts, in accordance with a prison grievance unsealed Thursday.
Surveillance video confirmed at the least one occasion during which a car with a driver and a passenger stopped at a checkpoint however solely the driving force was documented as having entered the nation, prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors stated the officers waved dozens of automobiles carrying folks with out paperwork. They stated each males had been paid hundreds for every car they waved via.
It wasn’t instantly identified if Almonte has an legal professional who can communicate on his behalf. The Nationwide Border Patrol Council, the union representing Border Patrol officers, did not instantly return an electronic mail looking for remark.
Rodriguez’s legal professional, Michael Hawkins, stated the case was nonetheless within the “toddler levels” and that Rodriguez has the presumption of innocence.
“We sit up for working via the present state of affairs,” Hawkins stated in an electronic mail during which he described Rodriguez as hardworking and constant.
The investigation on Almonte and Rodriguez began after three migrant smugglers who had been arrested final 12 months informed federal investigators they’d been working with U.S. border inspectors, federal prosecutors stated.
Whereas Almonte was in custody, investigators allegedly seized practically $70,000 in money they consider his romantic companion was making an attempt to maneuver to Tijuana. Prosecutors wrote in a court docket submitting that Almonte is doubtlessly going through further costs for cash laundering and obstruction of justice, The San Diego Union Tribune reported.
“Any Customs and Border Safety agent who aids or turns a blind eye to smugglers bringing undocumented immigrants into the U.S. is betraying their oath and endangering our nationwide safety,” Appearing U.S. Lawyer Andrew Haden informed the newspaper in an announcement.
There have been 5 U.S. Customs and Border Safety officers assigned to the San Diego space to face related corruption costs within the final two years.
Final 12 months, former U.S. border inspector Leonard Darnell George was sentenced to 23 years in jail for taking bribes to permit folks and drug-laden automobiles to enter the nation via the San Ysidro border crossing. Two different former border officers on the Otay Mesa and Tecate ports of entry had been charged final 12 months with related costs. They’re anticipated to go on trial this summer time.
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