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May 12, 2005

John Yembrick
Public Affairs Specialist
P. O. Box 61129 Houston, TX 77208
Phone: 713/567-9388 Fax: 713/718-3389

UNITED STATES BORDER PATROL AGENT PLEADS GUILTY TO BRIBERY AND DRUG CONSPIRACY

(LAREDO, TX) United States Attorney Michael Shelby announced today that Senior Border Patrol Agent Juan Alfredo Alvarez, 35, and his brother Jose Guadalupe Alvarez, 38, both residents of Laredo, pleaded guilty to bribery and drug conspiracy charges.

A superseding indictment returned on May 10, 2005, alleged that from June 2003 through April 6, 2005, Juan Alfredo Alvarez and his brother, Jose Guadalupe Alvarez, solicited and received approximately $1,500,000.00 from members of a drug trafficking organization in exchange for guaranteeing the safe passage of illegal narcotics through the checkpoints. According to the superseding Indictment, the drug organization moved at least one load of marihuana per month with each load containing between one and two tons of marihuana.

Juan Alfredo Alvarez was employed as a senior Border Patrol agent and canine handler stationed at Hebbronville, Texas and was responsible for manning the United States Border Patrol checkpoints located on Texas Highway 359 and Texas Highway 16. As a Border Patrol agent, his duties included the screening of traffic traveling through the checkpoints in an attempt to deter both narcotics and alien smuggling.

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