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Posted on 05/12/2005 5:20:38 PM PDT by mabelkitty
TUCSON, Ariz. - Pretending to be cocaine traffickers, undercover FBI agents in Arizona snared 16 current and former law enforcement officers and U.S. soldiers who accepted more than $222,000 in bribes to help move the drugs past checkpoints, the government said Thursday.
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Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, seven members of the Arizona Army National Guard, five members of the Arizona Department of Corrections and a police officer, officials said.
Premature posting. Would you please correct this? It is an excerpt.
Nogales. Imagine that.
Wonder if this is tied in somehow?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1396042/posts
Pretending to be cocaine traffickers, undercover FBI agents in Arizona snared 16 current and former law enforcement officers and U.S. soldiers who accepted more than $222,000 in bribes to help move the drugs past checkpoints, the government said Thursday.
Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, seven members of the Arizona Army National Guard, five members of the Arizona Department of Corrections and a police officer, officials said.
All 16 agreed to plead guilty to being part of a bribery and corruption conspiracy and were scheduled to enter pleas Thursday in federal court, said Noel Hillman, a Justice Department official.
Each faced a single conspiracy count carrying a maximum prison term of five years and a $250,000 fine, though all could be entitled to probation, Hillman said.
The defendants in the nearly 3 1/2-year-long sting were not arrested and agreed to cooperate with an investigation expected to bring more arrests and involve people from additional agencies, said Hillman and FBI Agent Jana D. Monroe, who is in charge of the bureau's operations in Arizona.
Hillman said the defendants drove cocaine shipments past checkpoints manned by the government while they wore official uniforms, carried identification and used official vehicles.
"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having the task of protecting society and securing America's borders," Monroe said. "The importance of these tasks cannot be overstated and we cannot tolerate, nor can the American people afford, this type of corruption."
Hillman and Monroe said the FBI was tipped about an individual and set up the fake trafficking organization in December 2001. Military and police personnel then were lured with money to help distribute the cocaine or allow it to pass through checkpoints they were guarding, Hillman said.
Authorities engaged in an elaborate effort to determine that the defendants were predisposed to taking bribes, he said.
One defendant, John M. Castillo, 30, was on duty as an INS inspector at a border checkpoint in Nogales in April 2002 when he twice allowed a truck he believed was carrying at least 88 pounds of cocaine to enter the country without being inspected, Hillman said.
Castillo later sold INS documents to an undercover FBI agent that fraudulently provided for entry of undocumented immigrants into the United States, he said.
In another instance in 2002, several of those charged met an aircraft flown by undercover FBI agents that was carrying 132 pounds of cocaine at a remote desert airstrip, he added.
In full uniform, they supervised the loading of the cocaine into two military Humvees assigned to the National Guard and another government vehicle, then drove to a resort hotel in Phoenix — where another undercover agent posing as a trafficker paid them in cash, Hillman said.
The FBI used real cocaine seized in other operations, the officials said. The 16 suspects transported more than 1,230 pounds of cocaine, the officials said.
The cocaine, with a street value of nearly $18.5 million, never ultimately left FBI possession, officials said.
Now we know why the INS couldn't be bothered with stopping illegal aliens from entering the US from Mexico along the Arizona boarder, yet the Minutemen with lawnchairs and binoculars could. The INS pukes were too busy ushering in cocaine for smugglers.
Not arrested? Nice to see they're looking out for their own.
Each faced a single conspiracy count carrying a maximum prison term of five years and a $250,000 fine, though all could be entitled to probation, Hillman said.
Compare that to a Bill in Congress right now, which would impose a MANDATORY 2 year sentence just for knowing that someone was selling marijuana on a college campus (of all places), and not reporting it. And a 5 year MANDATORY sentence for passing a joint to someone who was once in drug rehab. Glad to see we have our priorities straight.
INS is rapidly descending to the respect level of the abysmal BATFE.
They won't be satisfied until each and every last American is in prison.
It's really gotten to the point where it's not funny anymore. With all the problems this country faces, marijuana should not even be on our government's radar screen. What is it about marijuana that offends so many of those in power?
Please tell me you are joking!
I know you're not - the inmates really are in charge of the asylum.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Honestly, Wolfie . . . what do you think it is about grass that draws the incoming fire?
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050513/ts_latimes/ussoldierslawofficerssnaredinborderdrugsting
Those arrested: John M. Castillo, 30, Robert L. Bakerx, 43; David M. Bustamante, 35; Joel P. Bustamante, 33; Jorge A. Calzadillas, 22; Demian F. Castillo, 33; Mark A. Fillman, 55; Jimmy L. Ford Jr., 29; Guillermo German, 36; Angel S. Hernandez, 31; Moises Hernandez, 21; Leslie B. Hidalgo, 24; John F. Manje, 36; Gladys C. Sanchez, 24; Angel M. Soto, 41; and Phillip Varona, 22.
Wow, that is scary. Now just not being a snitch is enough to make one a felon? I guess when they bust someone in a residence hall they can just sweep up everyone on his floor. Campus cops will sure have the pretexts to go on some great 'fishing' expeditions after this little gem of insanity becomes law.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pass along that bong, my friend!
OK, let's real a little bit of it:
"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having the task of protecting society and securing America's borders," [Jana] Monroe said. "The importance of these tasks cannot be overstated and we cannot tolerate, nor can the American people afford, this type of corruption."
Those who pleaded guilty were freed on their own recognizance...
The defendants were not arrested and agreed to cooperate with an investigation expected to bring more arrests and involve people from additional agencies, said Hillman and FBI Agent Jana D. Monroe, who is in charge of the bureau's operations in Arizona.
The INS should be abolished and replaced with Marines, or a joint (military) task force that can seal off the border.
We also need to have a real (shooting) war on drugs, with all that implies, until the problem is eradicated.
>>and replaced with Marines
while i appreciate the marines, i have a cousin who retired as a full bird. he had a very vocal opinion about how to stir your coffee. there has to be a common sense type somewhere in the cic.
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