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on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Wednesday, May 24, 2017

San Diego: Former CBP sentencing highlights corruption, disgrace in border agencies

Former CMP agent sentenced to 5 years

In the latest in yet another San Diego ICE/CBP/HSI scandal, Jose Luis Cota has been sentenced to 5 years imprison, after a guilty plea earlier this year, where he admitted to three counts of bringing in immigrants for financial gain, and one count of bribery to a public official.  Cota was charged  last year in a smuggling scheme where he received cash payments and sexual favors for facilitating the smuggling of immigrants across the San Ysidro border, where he worked for years. 

The immigrants were driven by a husband and wife team, Gilberto Aguilar-Martinez, 32, and his wife Miriam Juarez-Herrera, who scouted and trafficked the immigrants, who were charged up to 15,000 a piece.  The conspiracy unraveled last fall, and is alleged to have been ongoing for a year at least. Juarez-Herrera admitted to providing sexual favors to Cota, with whom she had some form of bizarre relationship, referring to him as a "pendejo" according to the criminal complaint. 

Jose Luis Cota
The sordid, low level conspiracy, involving the trafficking of humans, and several betrayals of human decency, as well as sworn durty is the latest in a myriad of federal and state prosecutions of former agents of US Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and Homeland Security Investigations.  In some ways it's easy to understand.  These agencies were formed after 9/11, under George W. Bush's presidency, the nation was gripped by fears of terrorists pouring in through the southwest border. 

The agencies were filled with people who were under vetted, and have led to corruption throughout the southwest, including San Diego, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.  Cota, a 15 year veteran, fits perfectly in this analysis.  Blue collar men who sold themselves for the trinkets of a slightly upper middle class is what lies behind many of the cases, Cota's included.  

A weekend in Vegas, a new truck, gaudy jewels and plastic surgery for their aging wifes and younger girlfriends, Jet-Ski's and remodels to their mid level planned community homes in Chula Vista.  The comforts of a middle class existence, a few beers after work with the guys, customized truck.  Cheap people who sold themselves cheaper.  Cota forfeited two vehicles, and 63,000 in cash derived from the scheme.

Lorne "Hammer" Jones
Lorne "Hammer" Jones, an officer since 1994 was sentenced to 7.5 years in 2014, after being convicted at trial.  Jones, facilitated the importation of large marijuana loads from Arellano-Felix cells, driven through in tractor trailers.  Jones spent much of the alleged 500,000 he received over the years to engage in the same lifestyle detailed above.  Fishing boats and Chargers season tickets, trips to Las Vegas, heavy gambling.   For his part, Jones says he was unfairly prosecuted, and prosectors used criminal informants to build their case.  He was released last year, after serving about half of his sentence, which was slashed by a judge.  In his 50, his former life has been wiped away. 

A criminal complaint filed late last year detailed the FBI's arrest of Noe Lopez, a ten year veteran of the CBP, again, falling in the time frame above.  An informant working with the FBI's Border Corruption task force contacted Lopez, and Lopez agreed, and volunteered to assist in bringing kilos of cocaine and meth across the border.  His price was 500 for once kilo of meth, 1,000 per kilo of cocaine.

Noe Lopez
Backpacks would be left at pre arranged locations along Lopez's route, he would take the backpacks and drop them off to the informant.  Lopez, in furtherance of the conspiracy purchased bags at Wal-Mart, and retrieved a backpack the next day, which he believed to contain 6 kilos of meth, for which he was to be paid 500 per kilo.  The next run, was 7 kilos, and he was arrested as he made the exchange.  His case is pending, though a guilty plea is no doubt imminent. 

The case of Tyrone Cedric Duren, and his wife, Jennifer Lynn Duren, currently pending is a fascinating look inside corruption, detailed in the criminals complaint filed against Duren, and subsequent indictment.  Duren, using his position on  the Bulk Cash Smuggling Task Force, with multiple state and federal agencies involved, stole 400,000 in drug proceeds from two couriers near the San Ysidro border.  

Duren, used intel derived from informants, wiretaps, shared intelligence, to steal the money, hidden in a stash spot in the courier's car.  He used the money to purchase a home, tried to launder the money internationally, and locally, at one point walking to the branch across from his task forces' office, with 70k in a backpack, which he used as the down payment on a home. Duren's story is detailed here:


Besides the for profit schemes, there is a more sordid, darker, sexual side to the corruption lurking inside these agents, and agencies.  Sex has leverage or payment is common in cases of abuse of authority, but these cases went further, exploitation of children, co-workers, authority, providing minors with drugs in cheap hotel rooms, hidden cameras, and hard drives with hundreds of pictures. 

Part 2 coming. 

Sources: US Attorneys Office, San Diego Union Tribune, SD City Beat





63 comments:

  1. No doubt anyone caught performing such corruption is a dirtbag, but I can't help but notice that this article, or at least the translation of it, seems to demonize these agencies as a whole.

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    1. Im trying to see it the way you've described it but i just don't get that. What i do get out of it is that its not all flowers and unicorns corruption is in our government the same way every country has Mexico especially.

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    2. Demonize?! You never complain when corruption in the Mexico is brought up, do you???

      Bear in mind: you agree that the drugs enter Mexico´s southern border and travails the country only with official complicity/corruption, right?

      Why would the same drugs not require official complicity to cross the US´s southern border and into the country??? Or are US cops less well trained, worse equipped or just stupid???

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    3. Exactly my impression. It's clear that Mexicans enjoy these types of stories and try to play the "see you do it" to game as if somehow there is any equivalence.

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    4. I agree, a very small percentage is corrupt not the whole agency. The article shows the inexperience of the writer.

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    5. This dudes are some real bad american hombreis... 😱🔫

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    6. Lets throw rocks from our glass house.

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  2. The lure of money is often the culprit.
    An unfortunate reality which obscures ones rational judgment. Then again everyone has unique circumstances as to why one risks his employment to illicit behavior.
    Not condoning rather disappointing. However let's bear in mind that organized crime have scouts to find weakness to move and protect their interests. Oftentimes someone's financial hardships / fetishes are footholds for those seeking.
    Despite such concerns many people have about our servicemen. It's a small fraction and quite an accurate portrait of what's to be expected in a field where authority is practiced/ enforced.
    Nevertheless I do believe the sentencing guidelines are more lenient for those who are convinced. Maybe a sign of gratitude for having served his country? Who knows?

    E42

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    1. Fuck you and your soft talk!!! In the US the officials dont have to deal with the the 'plomo o plata' dilemma like in Mex. Corrupt US officials are just weak and/or greedy. Thats it!!! Nobody is holding a gun to their head with the choice to take the money or the bullet whereas that is widespread in Mex and other countires!

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    2. @7:59 am
      Call it how you want to call it. It's a prime example of how corruption is embedded in everyday life. Politicians, Big corporations, and even our clergymen have engaged in some sort of behavior that's inappropriate. Human stupidity is always and ignorance will always continue.
      Moreover like I stated, I do not condone such behavior but understand the human nature of irrational behavior.
      That's life. I'm sure God never meant for it to be perfect.

      E42

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  3. Sounds like a typical midlife crisis 4 these chaps. Where they get 2 shout their last hurrahs before the golden age of retirement. Or so they thought. - Sol Prendido

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    1. You are probably correct.

      E42

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    2. Nah, just human greed.

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    3. 12:58 just greed?
      Is it like Mr Jose Luis Cota alias "El Pendejo" will make a deposit of all that caboose in the bank?
      Some peepol, I tell you...

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    4. 5:10, that's beside the point so, yup, just greed.

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  4. Why would you go to a bank with 75k. I'm scared to even deposit more than. 5k lmao

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    1. Lmao i know what you mean i sold my truck an deposited the money in four amounts or id be on that shit list lol or so i thought i would be .lol

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    2. 1:27 5K's are suspicious too, explain?
      A mi se me hace que también andas en el pinchi pedo,

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  5. Money and sex is better than plata or plomo that the cartels offer politicians and cops in countries like Mexico. This drug shit is still a two way battle. You have to reduce consumption at the same time as punishing corruption and drug dealers in order to solve this problem. This country has been punishing criminals for the last decade or two at least while offering little to no punishment for consumers and yet drug availability and their consumption is at an all time high!

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    1. If you noticed lately Jeff Sessions ( States Attorney General) has issued a stronger and stiffer sentencing guidelines for all involvements of drug offenses in America. No more lenient sentencing for non violent criminals. Rather the severest charges possible.
      Expect more individuals to be incarcerated for lengthier times. Expect more prisons to be built . Expect more of the the same broken down system to be implemented at a higher percentage. Now that's politics in business for you.

      E42

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    2. Expectation vs reality. This Jeff Sessions shit might just be private prison funding that Republicans have stocks invested in. In other words expect more poor people ending up in jail for minor offenses while the rich get a slap on the wrist!

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  6. Replies
    1. Yaqui you're back when you setting us up with some fresh news i know u got the dirt on whats goin down in the south

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  7. Good synopsis J. I guess he serve 2 1/2 years, about half his sentence. I have a bit more compassion for people smugglers than I do for dope.

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  8. Considering CBP agents make as much as your local deputy sheriff, it's not surprising they would jump at the chance of a $50,000+ payday. Even in Jose Luis Cota's case, which the article demonstrated to be a relatively small-time operation, the takeaway probably exceeded Cota's annual salary.

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    1. You're wrong. Cbp pays very well. Officers make close to $100,000 after 4 years in service. Not bad considering all it takes to get hired is a high school diploma.

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    2. Just a lonely old man with an ego most positions with authority have. Superman/ King Kong complex.

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    3. @6:56 I doubt they can work up to $100k a year after just 4 years. Those that enter with only a high school diploma top out at $47k for their first several years. Don't know of many law enforcement agencies where people can more than double their initial salary in a few years.

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    4. OFO agents get up to $45000 a year in overtime and night pay.

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    5. Think gs 5 start at 32000
      Gs 7 start at 42000
      Gs 9 is 52000
      Gs 11 60000
      Gs 12 is 72000
      So yeah they make 100,000 after 4 years with overtime

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    6. @12:39 Looked at CBP's paygrade table and I stand corrected. They can make $97k after 4 years plus overtime, though after that the promotion is competitive to get to GS 13, 14, 15. Essentially, the most one of these corrupt CBP agents could realistically hope to make (and this is being generous) is 150k. So the original point still stands; a $50k, $70k, or $90k payday would make almost any CBP agent consider taking la plata.

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    7. I, bet 75 percent or more of BB viewers and even just plain old Americans have tried at least one drug! I, bet 50 percent of those same ones still consume drugs! Bunch of fuckin hypocrites talk about corruption in Mexico as well as along the border when they themselves supply the money for this corruption to occur! Fuck all of that the show fits in!

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  9. Every agency has a few bad apples, FBI, dea, police departments across the nation, correctional officers, etc, nothing new here.

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  10. I live in Chihuahua and have been reading about this going on for years. It seems to always be a American Hispanic women and men taking the money. Relatives in Mexico, old friends or just easier to turn? Not saying Blacks, Whites and other flavors do not turn, but the biggest percent Hispanic. Just an observation.

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    1. @6:04 A higher percentage of the people taking bribes is because a very high percentage of the agents working the MX/US border For most of them they are working a job close to where they grew up and live and have their families there. If most of the agents working the border were Blacks, White and "other flavors" the highest percentage of those that "turn" would be Blacks, whites, and "other flavors". Ethnicity (in most cases) has nothing to do with the criminality. It is just about greed.

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    2. 8:47 Let's say there is no racial quotas, and if you put ants there there would be ant corruption.
      My thing is public corruption above and from above, and usually these purges are all about replacing someone else bad guys for the new powers that be, and that would explain handily the unending never ending love story of the US and drug trafficking, itakes money we never see for people we don't even imagine, and it costs banks about 1% of the money laundered.
      Deutsche Bank has been fined, but it keeps laundering their share, even for russians, citi, chase, hsbc, all of God's Big and Small and the Old and the New, Bankster Institutions.
      --Dr James Herriot should write a book about these billionaire animals, i swear we would all fall in love with them.

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    3. The reason why there's so many Hispanics working at the border is location and that the Spanish test is probably the hardest test in their herein process

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    4. 7:06 you would not believe how "spanish challenged" many Hispanics that live close to the border are, even is spanish is taught to them, there seems to be a cultural rejection of the Spanish language by mexican americans.

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  11. Man, we have one more member of the BB Commenter Community,
    José Luis Cota was pronounced a pendejo by his CBP sexual benefits administration provider, we are set to conquer the world!

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  12. CBP needs to do polygraph on all the force not just the new ones.

    Rosamela Gorda

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  13. If you know a bad CBP border patrol agent post his name and what border he works at here!! Lets put a stop to these bad hombres! No q no puto trump ay te va una de las tuyas pa los tuyos..

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    1. @9:18PM Before anyone posts the name of CBP they think is corrupt, they better have proof of what they are alleging or their comment will not see the light of day.

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    2. Ooooo cuando se pone bueno la cosa luego luego esta el que los defiende pinches migras.

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    3. 12:23 do you mean what I think you mean?
      I think you leak, prematurely.

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  14. Presidente trompas you have many bad hombres in your CBP and ICE playing tag with our bad hombres please keep your puppies on the porch our dogs bite arriba jalisco compas

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  15. Mini lic captured!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 10:20-What?Say again.

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    2. Not! Go back to watching cartoons!

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    3. That's what they said on the TV news yesterday. I do love cartoons though.

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  16. Just the American way. Nothing new about this. The President and the politicians do it everyday, but the little guy always pays the price. Just the American Joke.

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  17. Hahaha cue up all the little girls who are always pointing fingers at Mexico, I say it time and time again... all that merca don't make it to the American side of the border by SHEER MAGIC

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  18. : - 0 "Chapo's sons found out that we had interviewed Damaso and they pressured Javier (Valdez) to not publish the story," Bojorquez wrote in his column Monday. "But we refused the request." Then they offered to buy the entire print run, a proposal Riodoce also rejected, hence the operation following the delivery truck.

    After La Pared's papers were bought up, its editors were contacted on behalf of Guzman's sons and told to run a new edition of 15,000 copies with a story criticizing Lopez, said a former staff member, who insisted on speaking anonymously for safety reasons. It was the paper's last edition."

    https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/05/25/world/americas/ap-lt-mexico-media-under-attack.html

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  19. There is more good police in the US. Better here than Mexico

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    1. 5:48 of course, for the money they make plus the benefits, it isexpected and taken for granted that US cops are more honest, except for some, remember Whitey Bulger protected and tipped by no less than SOME FBI ASSOCIATES?

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  20. Did you guy's hear about the DEA agents partying with hookers and cocaine? Or the daughter of the DEA agent in Texas who had tons of drugs and got nothing but a slap on the wrist?? This happens on the daily no WALL will stop this that shit come in through the CBP. Last time i was at the border, agents were watching a baseball game didn't come out just stuck his head out and asked if i was a US Citizen lol

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    1. @9:01 you are right. Its very hypocritical for the DEA to be after the Mexican cartels when they really don't have a leg to stand on. I hope Mexico will be better about not extraditing Mexican Citizens to the U.S. all so they can get their millions. Un believable.

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  21. Cbp has it's bad apples
    No doubt
    But it doesn't compare to what we ha e in Mexico.

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  22. Bunch of CBP nuthuggers here. They are as corrupt as they come. These guys are just the tip of the iceberg. For every dummy who gets caught there are a 100 who are slipping by. I used to live near the border - we would never tell the CBP anything ever! And I am an anglo.

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  23. Mean while in real America a rancher sets some back fires to establish a fire break on his property and things get slightly out of control and a couple acres of Bureau of Land Management ground and the rancher and his son are persecuted for terrorist charges at a federal level. A judge used some judicial discursion and had his ruling overturned at the federal level, father and son ordered back to jail for YEARS.

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  24. Never saw "Part 2" When?

    ReplyDelete

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