Zuniga
Posted on 12/23/2008 10:58:00 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
McALLEN - A former U.S. Border Patrol agent was sentenced in federal court Monday to serve more than seven years in prison for his role in a cocaine smuggling conspiracy.
Reynaldo Zuniga, 34, of Harlingen, pleaded guilty in September to using his official vehicle to drive drug traffickers past areas where they were most likely to be caught.
Zuniga told investigators he accepted $1,200 to make the drive between the banks of the Rio Grande and an Hidalgo Whataburger at least five times before his arrest June 6, according to court documents.
He is at least the fifth local Border Patrol agent to face criminal charges this year.
Zuniga, who resigned his position soon after his arrest, apologized for his actions during Monday's sentencing hearing.
In addition to a prison term of seven years and three months, U.S. District Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa imposed a three-year supervised release sentence on the former agent.
Two Mexican nationals indicted along with Zuniga were also sentenced Monday.
Jose Luis Arteaga, a Reynosa smuggler caught on hidden camera accepting a ride from Zuniga, will serve three years and 10 months in federal prison.
Luis Alfredo Cruz, who picked up Arteaga from the Whataburger where Zuniga left him, received a year-and-a-half prison term
Hey, look at the list of the last 20 or so CBP/BP officers convicted of criminal activity.
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Reynaldo Zuniga
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Hopeland M. Staples
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Guadalupe Garza
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Luis F. Alarid
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Jesus V. Esparza
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Ramiro Villarreal Jr.
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Jesus M. Huizar
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Juan C. Espinoza
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Jorge A. Camarillo
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
David G. Cruz
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Ramiro Flores Jr.
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Jay B. Gillilland
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Arturo Arzate
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Ronald H. Merker
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Juan Sanchez
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Sergio Garza
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Margarita Crispin
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Tony Henderson
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Edwin Disla
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Desmone Bastian
Convicted Customs and Border Protection Officer
Jason A. O’Neal
Convicted Border Patrol Agent
Jose Olivas
So many of them seem to have this weird common trait that I just can't put my finger on.
It's almost enough to make you think that they're letting some folks slide through the background investigation so long as they can check a certain box on the application...
But the GOV wouldn't do that. They're an EQUAL Opportunity Employer. It says so right on the application page so it must be true.
“Not as much time as Ramos or Compean!”
Here is another case of a jailed LEO who went after an illegal alien. This from the Law Enforcement Legal defense fund.
http://www.policedefense.org/index.html
With 25 letters of commendation, two awards, and nine years of service to the Prince Georges County Police Department in Maryland, Stephanie Mohr does not sound like an officer who should be spending years in jail away from her young son, Adam. Unfortunately, this is already Mohrs fifth year of a prison sentence that she does not deserve. With your help though, we can get this innocent officer out of jail and reunited with her son.
This is the last chance that we have to help Stephanie.
In September of 1995, Mohr was on patrol with her police dog Valk. She was patrolling Takoma Park, an area that had been known to have many recent burglaries. When Mohr and her partner, Sergeant Anthony Delozier, got a call for backup from an officer who had spotted two men on the roof of a nearby store, they knew they may have found the criminals.
Ricardo Mendez and Herrera Cruz were the two suspects who were ordered to get down and face the wall. Mendez then made a move that looked as if he were about to flee the scene.
As Mohr had been trained to do in this type of situation, she released her canine. Valk, the police dog, was trained to perform the police departments standard bite and hold and that is exactly what he did. The dog bit Mendez on the leg and held him there until the officers could apprehend him.
Mendez and Herrera were convicted of 4th degree burglary and were then deported. The two illegally re-entered the U.S. again and were arrested for selling crack cocaine. They were then deported a second time.
Stephanie was relieved that she had gotten these two criminals off of our streets and back to their country.
She soon gave birth to her son Adam and was a proud mother.
Unfortunately, her joy did not last very long. Five years after this incident and one day before the statue of limitations was set to expire, Mohr was indicted by the U.S Department of Justice.
Looking for cases of police brutality the U.S Department of Justice indicted Stephanie and two fellow officers charging them with conspiracy charges and violating Ricardo Mendezs civil rights.
At the trial, Officer Mohr was found not guilty of conspiracy. A hung jury, voting 11 to 1 in favor of Mohr failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the civil right charges.
The prosecutor sought a retrial that was held in 2001. The trial was scheduled even though the jurors from the first trial said that the case lacked merit. At this trial the prosecution convinced the jury that Mohr had released her canine on innocent minority citizens.
In this second trial, the judge allowed prejudicial testimony into evidence that Mohr had used racial epithets in making a prior arrest using her canine. The charges did not start out as racial but the prosecutors needed to do something desperate to save their case. This questionable evidence should not have been allowed into the courtroom.
The jury was stacked with minorities who would be sympathetic with illegal immigrants. The government even flew Mendez back into the U.S. at taxpayer expense. They did this in order to have Mendez testify against Mohr despite the fact that he was a convicted felon.
Because of the racial tactics the prosecution had to use to save their failing case, Stephanie was convicted of a federal criminal rights violation and given a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Stephanie is now serving her fifth year of the ten year prison sentence.
This is the fifth year that she has had to spend away from her son Adam. She has missed so many important days in her sons life like birthdays and holidays because of this prison sentence she does not deserve.
Stephanie has not lost hope though. She has faith in the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. We are doing everything we can to help Mohr.
We have appealed the trial Courts decision denying Stephanie a new trial to the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.
Last month we filed our request for a Commutation of Sentence to President George W. Bush.
With just weeks left in his administration, President Bush is now reviewing Pardon requests. You and I both know that no one in the country deserves her freedom more than Stephanie Mohr.
Stephanies eight year old son has now spent the last 5 years of his life without his mother by his side.
Five years of her life have been wasted in prison because she followed police procedure when she ordered her police dog Valk to stop a suspect from fleeing the scene. Five years that can NEVER EVER be given back.
The suspect an illegal alien from San Salvador was convicted of selling drugs and deported. —— But outrageously the prosecutor brought him back, at public expense, to testify against Stephanie.
And Stephanie was convicted of violating his civil rights.
Just as unfair as the charges, the Judge, blindly following the recommendation of the Civil Rights Division, imposed a draconian ten-year sentence that both Stephanie and her son Adam are both serving. What can be more outrageous!!!
I wonder if he carried a gun while he committed this crime.
Zuniga
The common trait you speak of is the fact that they all have 2 names — a clear cut case of discrimination against rock stars (Cher, Sting, Madonna, etc) who have but one name.
A friend of my sons was accepted into the border patrol, and they shipped him to texas. He was soon let go because he could not speak spanish. I guess there are no other border area’s that a person could work.....
>>Last month we filed our request for a Commutation of Sentence to President George W. Bush.<<
She was convicted in the 2nd trial, after the feds brought up the alleged racial stuff, on § 242, “Deprivation of rights under color of law.” Isn’t that what Sutton charged Ramos and Compean with?
I might be wrong, but I would bet Bush’s sympathy lies with the illegals.
Koochie Koochie!
I might be wrong, but I would bet Bush’s sympathy lies with the illegals.”
You’re not wrong.
In the case of Ramos and Compean, Bush sided with his buddy Nifong, I mean Johnny Sutton.
Everything you've said is correct. The last comment, while probably also quite correct, didn't come into play on this list, with one or two exceptions for something truly weird, these people were all convicted of smuggling, usually illegals, often drugs (or both). I wish I could provide a link to the list with full explanations, but it appears to be hosted on an intranet.
A friend of my sons was accepted into the border patrol, and they shipped him to texas. He was soon let go because he could not speak spanish.
I hate to say it, but they probably did him a favor. I don't know what percent (80%?) are stationed on the Southern Border because Canadian Fur Trappers usually cross right back over the border and their economic and criminal impact is small.
From what my friends and co-workers tell me, it's a hellish existence. Many times you'll be assigned to an area where you're the only legal American in town, your kids get beaten up in school for arresting the other kid's parents, and workplace morale couldn't be lower: You could end up like Ramos and Compean, you could end up shot by one of your co-workers (see the list of "co workers" above), you could drive out into the desert and watch DVDs in your patrol vehicle, or you could try to run rabbits over with your vehicle which, several times a year, ends in a one car fatality.
I'm the furthest thing from an Obama-bot and view all his minions with high suspicion, but Napalitano would have to make a Herculean effort to surpass the damage Chertoff has done.
Owl_Eagle
“When the stock market crashed,
Franklin Roosevelt got on the television
and didn’t just talk about
the princes of greed, he said,
‘Look, here’s what happened.’"
-Slow Joe Biden
WOW!! GMTA, I was just thinking of Campeon and Ramos and how these two heroes should be at the top of Bush’s list of pardons. Johnny Sutton, that POS, should be the one in prison.
God Richly Bless Agents Campeon and Ramos and their families during this Miracle Season. Jesus Never Fails!!!
Ramos and Compean....I don’t see them on the list of Bush’s pardons. But didn’t figure I would.
I might be wrong, but I would bet Bush’s sympathy lies with the illegals.
Oops, wrong thread.
BP ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
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