2 US Border Patrol officers are charged with taking bribes to wave in people without documents

SAN DIEGO AP Two U S dividing line inspectors in Southern California have been charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes to allow people to enter the country through the nation s busiest port of entry without showing documents prosecutors disclosed U S Customs and Frontier Protection officers Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez were assigned to immigration inspection booths at the San Ysidro Port of Entry They were charged after investigators located phone evidence showing they had exchanged messages with human traffickers in Mexico and discovered unexplained cash deposits into their bank accounts according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday Surveillance video proved at least one instance in which a motorcycle with a driver and a rider stopped at a checkpoint but only the driver was documented as having entered the country prosecutors announced Prosecutors stated the officers waved dozens of vehicles carrying people without documents They revealed both men were paid thousands for each carriage they waved through It wasn t directly known if Almonte has an attorney who can speak on his behalf The National Confines Patrol Council the union representing Demarcation Patrol officers didn t without delay return an email seeking comment Rodriguez s attorney Michael Hawkins reported the episode was still in the infant stages and that Rodriguez has the presumption of innocence We look forward to working through the current situation Hawkins explained in an email in which he described Rodriguez as hardworking and loyal The assessment on Almonte and Rodriguez started after three migrant middlemen who were arrested last year communicated federal investigators they had been working with U S perimeter inspectors federal prosecutors disclosed While Almonte was in custody investigators allegedly seized nearly in cash they believe his romantic partner was trying to move to Tijuana Prosecutors wrote in a court filing that Almonte is potentially facing additional charges for money laundering and obstruction of justice The San Diego Union Tribune announced Any Customs and Margin Protection agent who aids or turns a blind eye to brokers bringing undocumented immigrants into the U S is betraying their oath and endangering our national assurance Acting U S Attorney Andrew Haden reported the newspaper in a announcement There have been five U S Customs and Dividing line Protection officers assigned to the San Diego area to face similar corruption charges in the last two years Last year former U S territory line inspector Leonard Darnell George was sentenced to years in prison for taking bribes to allow people and drug-laden vehicles to enter the country through the San Ysidro dividing line moving across Two other former perimeter officers at the Otay Mesa and Tecate ports of entry were charged last year with similar charges They are expected to go on trial this summer Source