Ex-Border Patrol agents sentenced to at least 30 years

Ex-Border Patrol agents sentenced to at least 30 years



SAN DIEGO – A federal judge on Friday sentenced two brothers who

worked as Border Patrol agents to at least 30 years in prison for

smuggling hundreds of immigrants into the United States.

U.S. District Court Judge John Houston sentenced Raul Villarreal to 35

years for leading the smuggling ring. His brother, Fidel Villarreal,

was sentenced to 30 years for managing the operation.

The sentences are among the longest given to border law enforcement officials.

Houston said he gave the severe sentences to deter others. The judge

called their smuggling operation "disgusting" and a threat to national

security.

The brothers were accused of helping more than 500 migrants cross the

border from Mexico.

Prosecutors said Raul Villarreal -- who made television appearances as

an agency spokesman and once played the role of a smuggler in a public

service ad --recruited his brother to his ring that smuggled in

Mexicans and Brazilians. One Brazilian woman told investigators she

paid $12,000 to cross.

Federal officials said they also took bribes from public officials.

The federal probe began in May 2005 when an informant tipped off the

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Investigators installed

cameras in areas where migrants were dropped off, planted recording

devices and placed tracking instruments on Border Patrol vehicles.

They also trailed the ring's smuggling operations by airplane.

Prosecutors said when the brothers learned they were being

investigated in June 2006, they quit their jobs and fled to Mexico.

Two years later, the brothers were arrested. They were extradited to

the U.S. and charged with human smuggling, witness tampering and

bribery.

Raul Villarreal's attorney, David Nick, had argued the prosecution's

witnesses were not credible and surveillance yielded no evidence of

wrongdoing by his client.

Fidel's attorney, Zenia Gilg, echoed that argument, saying the

prosecution's case rested largely on two alleged accomplices who were

promised leniency for testifying and "inconsistent statements" from

migrants. The Border Patrol has suffered a string of such

embarrassments since doubling its size in less than a decade,

including the case of an agent who pleaded guilty in April to

smuggling marijuana while on duty along the Arizona-Mexico border.





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