2 US Border Patrol Persons Accused of Bribery of Wielding a Man Without Documents
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Two US border inspectors in Southern California have been accused of bribing thousands of dollars to allow people to enter the country through the country’s busiest port of entry without showing documents, prosecutors said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez were assigned to immigration inspection booths at the port of San Ysidro. They were prosecuted after investigators found that they had exchanged messages with human traffickers in Mexico and found unexplained cash deposits into their bank accounts.
The surveillance video showed at least one instance in which a vehicle with a driver and a passenger was parked at a checkpoint, but only the driver was recorded as a driver entering the country, prosecutors said.
The officers wielded dozens of vehicles carrying people, prosecutors said. They said both paid thousands for each car they waved.
It is not clear whether Almonte has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf. The National Border Patrol Commission, a union representing Border Patrol personnel, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comments.
Rodriguez's attorney Michael Hawkins said the case was still in the “baby stage” and Rodriguez's presumption was innocent.
“We look forward to resolving the current situation,” Hawkins said in an email.
Federal prosecutors say the investigation into Almonte and Rodriguez has begun after three immigrant smugglers told federal investigators last year that they have been working with U.S. border inspectors.
When Almonte was detained, investigators allegedly seized nearly $70,000 in cash, which they believed his romantic partner was trying to move to Tijuana. Almont could face additional charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice, according to the San Diego United Tribune, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
“Any Customs and Border Protection agents who help or turn a blind eye to smugglers have betrayed their oaths and endangered our national security,” Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden told the newspaper in a statement.
Over the past two years, five U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have been assigned to the San Diego area to face similar corruption charges.
Last year, former U.S. border inspector Leonard Darnell George was sentenced to 23 years in prison for accepting bribes to allow people and drug-rich vehicles to cross the San Isidro border into the country. Last year, two other former border officials at the port of entry for Otay Mesa and Tecate were charged. They are expected to go to trial this summer.
