A federal judge in San Diego found a previous U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent guilty on Monday of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for allowing pirates to transport illegal immigrants through his examination street at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Leonard Darnell George, 41, was found guilty by the judge on two counts of conspiring to import meth and one count of conspiring to take illegal immigrants to the United States for economic gain. A second count of conspiracy to distribute mdma was dismissed by the judge.
Following five weeks of evidence, the jury deliberated for about four hours on Monday afternoon.
” With this ruling, the judge sent a clear message to someone considering investing in their symbol for cash”, U. S. Attorney Tara McGrath told the Union- Tribune in a speech. Abandoning the security of the standard for a drug trafficking conspiracy leads to a criminal faith.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Brandon Kimura , told the jury during opening statements , last week that in the fall of 2021, George befriended two travelers passing through his examination street over their shared interest in Hong Kong Gentleman’s Club, a Tijuana remove league known for offering trafficking. The two gentlemen later revealed to become members of a drug-trafficking group and recruited George, who was also thrown a lavish celebration at the remove club, according to the attorney.
The program was easy: When George was on duty, he had let his smuggling emails know which observation street he was working, Kimura said. The trafficking organization had then traverse George’s lane by moving vehicles loaded with drugs or carrying illegal immigrants.
The government alleges that George, who came to be known as” The Goalie” among traffickers, made between$ 300, 000 and$ 400, 000 while working for the group between about October 2021 and June 2022.
One of George’s co-defendants from the trafficking group agreed to a plea deal that stipulated that the group did send four or five vehicles carrying illegal immigrants or drugs through George’s street on every shift he worked. According to the co-defendant’s plea agreement, George’s Lane allowed about 300 illegal immigrants to enter the country.
The total amount of drugs that allegedly entered George’s lane are n’t specified in the case’s documents, but one vehicle allegedly delivered by the trafficking group contained 223 pounds of methamphetamine and 13 pounds of fentanyl, according to prosecutors.
Kimura showed the jury last month text communications and audio recordings of users of the drug trafficking organization talking about a corrupt, unknown CBP officer being paid for their time during opening statements. He also showed the jury translated text messages between George’s woman and a senior member of the drug-trafficking organization, reportedly arguing whether George should be compensated for a car full of unauthorized migrants or for each individual passenger in the car.
The alleged prostitution party leader’s return message read,” I agreed with your husband per car.”
Antonio Yoon, the attorney for the defense, argued that witnesses who had admitted guilt to drug and conspiracy charges could n’t be relied on and could benefit from shorter sentences by consenting to testify for the prosecution. Because of her possible egregious text messages, Yoon claimed George’s woman felt compelled to testify against him.
Yoon did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling on Tuesday.
George began working for CoreCivic, the secret prison organization that runs the Otay Mesa Detention Center, at CBP in 2018. He came to CBP in 2018.
“CBP does hardly survive misconduct within its rates”, Elizabeth Cervantes, the particular broker in charge of CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility for the San Diego Field Office, told the Union- Tribune in a statement. ” The Office of Professional Responsibility’s efforts in this case and this latest court selection are a testament to CBP’s dedication to preserving the pride of its largely skilled workforce, and to its core values of attention, dignity, and support to country”.
George is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
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