Posted on 02/12/2007 1:35:42 AM PST by Man50D
The Border Patrol agent with family ties to the Mexican drug smuggler in the case of two jailed border agents may have been involved in back-channel communications with Mexican drug cartels, investigative reports obtained by WND suggest, prompting calls for a special prosecutor to look into the charges.
"We now know that DHS and prosecutor U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton found [smuggler Osbaldo] Aldrete-Davila because the mother-in-law of Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez talked with Aldrete-Davila's mother on the phone," Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Friends of the Border Patrol, told WND. "How many other conversations in Mexico did Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez have and what was the purpose of those conversations?"
An investigative report filed by Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Christopher Sanchez on July 18, 2005, stated that on July 11, 2005, the DHS Office of Inspector General in El Paso spoke to Agent Rene Sanchez in the Wilcox, Ariz., BP Station, concerning a telephone call Sanchez made to Border Patrol Agent Nolan Blanchett in the Ysleta BP Station in Texas.
At the time of the phone call, Blanchett was temporarily assigned to the Fabens BP Station, the scene of the Feb. 17, 2005, incident with Aldrete-Davila that led to the imprisonment of agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.
According to the July 18, 2005, DHS memorandum of activity:
(Rene) Sanchez stated that he called Blanchett one or two days after he spoke to DHS OIG on March 5, 2005. Sanchez said he asked Blanchett if he knew anything about a shooting that occurred on February 17, 2005 involving a van loaded with dope in which BP agents shot at the driver. Sanchez said Blanchett told him he knew nothing about the shooting.
A separate March 14, 2005, DHS memorandum of activity filed by Christopher Sanchez, documents that agent Rene Sanchez "queried the Border Patrol Tracking System and found that the Fabens Border Patrol Station seized a load of marijuana on February 17, 2005."
These reports drew the suspicion of Ramirez.
"Why is this Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez over in Wilcox, Arizona, so interested in searching out this drug bust information in Fabens, Texas?" Ramirez asked WND. "Sure, we know that Aldrete-Davila and Rene Sanchez grew up together in Mexico. But how much more to the story is there than that?"
WND has learned that prosecutor Sutton's office took steps to prevent Agent Nolan Blanchett from testifying in open court, claiming that Blanchett's testimony would compromise an ongoing investigation.
WND has also learned that Blanchett had received phone calls from BP Agent Rene Sanchez tipping Blanchett off that a sensor hit was about to take place on the border, giving advance warning that a drug-smuggling transport across the border was going to take place. Knowing in advance the when and where of a sensor hit on the border would allow a Border Patrol agent to be in position to interdict the drug shipment and arrest the smuggler.
"How do we know that Agent Rene Sanchez wasn't working with Aldrete-Davila's drug cartel?" Ramirez asked. "Calling Blanchett in advance and letting him know where to interdict a drug shipment might be a good way to eliminate the competition of Aldrete-Davila or whomever he is linked to."
At the Ramos-Compean trial, the defense was not allowed to call Border Patrol Blanchett to the stand for testimony.
"The connection is a little bit too convenient," Ramirez pointed out to WND. "Here we have this Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez over in Wilcox, Ariz., and the only way DHS and Johnny Sutton's office find out that Aldrete-Davila was the drug smuggler is because Rene Sanchez tips them off. Then Aldrete-Davila gets immunity and medical care from the prosecutor. Just how closely was Rene Sanchez working with the drug smuggler and what did Rene Sanchez stand to gain when Aldrete-Davila got immunity?"
WND has previously reported Aldrete-Davila's cell phone was found in the abandoned vehicle. This directly contradicts prosecutor Sutton's repeated claim that there was no evidence at the scene, which would have permitted law-enforcement investigators to identify Aldrete-Davila as the perpetrator.
"Where is Aldrete-Davila's telephone?" Ramirez asked WND. "I wonder if Rene Sanchez's phone number was one of the numbers in that phone's memory, or maybe others of higher ranks inside U.S. government agencies or bodies. But then again, what if this guy is a runner for the Tucson Mafia and I am not referring to people of European ancestry either. Why is it that even today nobody knows what network of people Aldrete-Davila called? Why isn't Johnny Sutton going after the drug dealer's network? He gave Davila immunity, not the people Davila liked to call."
WND has obtained the transcripts from the Ramos-Compean trial for the testimony given by Border Patrol Agent Arturo Vasquez on Feb. 24, 2006, and by Agent Oscar Juarez on Feb. 23 and 24, 2006. Both agents gave testimony about the drug dealer's cell phone they found on the scene on Feb. 17, 2005.
Vasquez testified he found the phone in the front seat of the abandoned drug smuggler's Ford Econoline van, with a charging device plugged into the cigarette lighter.
In cross-examination by defense, Vasquez testified about the cell phone as follows:
Q: While you're looking at the phone, you're scrolling through whatever information you can find? A: Yes.
Q: Did you notice whether or not any of the calls are recent?
A: I didn't have the chance to find what I was looking for. I didn't have enough time to get into some of the directory, the actual directory where you can get that information from. Because, while we were going that (Supervisor) Agent (Jonathan) Richards and Lance (Mendrano) got to the area and I had to hand the phone over to Agent Mendrano.
Q: I thought your testimony, though, was tat was, pretty much, all you do is check out the phone.
A: Yes, but I didn't get to the part where I could actually see times and all that.
At this point, prosecutor Debra Kanof interrupted and objected that the testimony was not relevant to the guilt or innocence of Ramos and Compean. Judge Kathleen Cardone agreed, commenting, "It's late on a Friday ... ."
Judge Cardone ruled out cross-examination about the cell phone, stating: "Mr. Aldrete-Davila is not on trial. And everybody knows he's got a phone and everybody knows he was transporting the drugs, but, unless we're getting somewhere that's got to do with this case, I'm concerned we're going of ... ." At that point, Judge Cardone was interrupted once again by Debra Kanof.
On page 186 of his testimony, Agent Juarez corroborated Agent Vasquez's testimony that the drug smuggler's cell phone was found in the abandoned van containing 743 pounds of marijuana.
WND is unable to determine who currently has possession of the cell phone or if any law-enforcement officers made any attempt to identify the owner or the identify of the names in the incoming and outgoing call memory, or the service provider records of the same.
As far as WND can determine, no law-enforcement agency made any attempt to identify Aldrete-Davila's drug network or associates from the recovered cell phone, or if agents were able to determine if the phone records indicate any calls to or received from Border Patrol agents or others connected with U.S. agencies or law enforcement.
As WND previously reported, Agent Vasquez was fired by the Border Patrol and Agent Juarez resigned in anticipation of being fired.
There was probably blackmail involved. If our side of the border did not comply with their side of the border, then . . . . .
. . . . .
I just told you what the DHS report said -- it was NOT his van, he did not steal it. He was hired to cross the border and then meet up with the VAN and drive it to a drop-off point.
Questions about the van are interesting, and one would hope there was an investigation into the van to see if it could be tied to anybody on this side of the border.
The testimony was only if you wanted to go pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy the transcripts. The docs I have pulled online cost 8¢ a page--the court reporters charge $2 to $3 per page. Of course you will note on the docket that transcripts are expressly not available online. What a racket.
I do think that Corsi should just let loose with some real information instead of musings from Andy Ramirez. We've heard them before. If it hasn't been said, then just say it. If he has the transcripts, post them. I hate the spoonfeeding approach, but I guess that's the way the media makes money.
The report didn't say that. It just talked of a cell phone left in the van, not whose it was.
And while I haven't bought into the theory that he shot himself later (or other theories), you can't conclude that a bullet couldn't be switched. Couldn't one find a bullet after a trip to the target range? (I am not suggesting this is reality, only pointing out that you are jumping to some conclusions that are not in the report).
I would think that normal police procedure, when you confiscate a drug-laden vehicle with a cell phone, is to immediately gather evidence in order to try to identify suspects in order to make arrests. So, why does it seem like that didn't happen in this case?
I think it is a little too much corroboration. And Davila's "statement" is one that was written in November 2006 and the paragraphs that reference it do not include reference to an exhibit supporting it. I don't buy into this one, unless I see statement or testimony from Davila, or a report from Sanchez written sometime before June of 2005. (Yes, I'm a skeptic).
I laughed when I read the Agent's note about the shotgun--it was overkill to sell one possibility, the one they wanted to write. I can think of plenty of ways to have my hands on the barrel without pointing it straight at myself. Again... these are C.Sanchez's words (and another agent), not Compeans. I want to hear his testimony.
Why do you put "smuggler" in quote marks? Paid paid to cross into the US, meet the person with the van and drive to another location would seem to earn him the right to smuggler without the quote marks.
I don't know, Chucky. If the van belonged to Rene Sanchez, wouldn't that be important? ;-)
This gets thicker and thicker.... and the more convinced I am the wrong men are sitting in prison right now... I can draw a lot of conclusions from this article that tells me The Border Patrol and HLS and Sutton should have all looked a whole lot closer at Rene Sanchez and never brought charges against Ramos and Compean.
bttt
I would have a more open mind.
This is the kind of garbage that makes OIG and the AUSA lose total credibility with me. He did not "recant." He said "it looked like a gun. This is when I started shooting." The fact he said he wasn't certain (i.e. positive) is an honest statement, but it does not change his belief that "it looked like a gun" and that is why he reacted as he did. The word "recant" was added in by our famous DHS-OIG liars as CYA fodder. It is disgusting to see them do this, just like Debra Kanof reiterating her garbage about an unarmed fleeing Mexican who only wanted to surrender and/or only wanted to go home.
Making no difference in terms of possession, naturally, just a difference in terms of terminology.
The bullet entered the left buttocks and lodged in the right thigh, leaving some small fragments in the pelvis. It was reported during the trial in early 2006 that it "shattered" his urethra. As the story goes, his left side must have been facing the shooter for the bullet to go left to right.
Do you have a link to the DHS report?
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