(The Center Square) – Texas law enforcement officers continue to be arrested for crimes at the border, including human and drug smuggling and trafficking, sexual assault and producing and distributing child sexual abuse content.
This month, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested in El Paso on criminal charges for allegedly human smuggling and drug trafficking.
According to the indictment, in multiple instances, he admitted to helping smuggle into the U.S. illegal border crossers at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso. He also allegedly conspired to possess a substance containing at least 5kg of cocaine over a period of six years “to distribute throughout Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina and elsewhere,” according to the complaint.
He was charged with “one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States for financial gain, three counts of bringing aliens to the United States for financial gain, and one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.” If convicted, he faces decades to life in prison.
In January, a former Hidalgo County Sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to 46 months in prison after he was convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine. He was also involved with a drug trafficking organization, according to the complaint.
Also in January, a former Webb County Sheriff’s deputy was charged with sexually assaulting a driver of a vehicle he pulled over in Laredo. Charges also include threatening the use of a firearm, kidnapping, bodily injury, aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact. He also allegedly turned off his body-worn camera and dash camera and falsified records, according to the complaint.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison for the sexual assault and other civil rights charges, up to 20 years in prison for falsifying records and fines of up to $250,000.
Also in Webb County, a former correctional officer with the Sheriff’s Office pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two female inmates, according to the complaint.
The incidents occurred in January 2022 when he removed the victims from their cell and isolated them in a secluded area where he used force, threats of force and coercion to forcibly sexually assault them. He faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
The corrections officer wielded “the power bestowed upon him as a jailer, used force and coercion to commit heinous acts … is the worst kind of predator, one who abused his authority, praying upon some of the most vulnerable women in our community,” U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said. “These were women that were in his care, women that he was supposed to look after and protect. Instead, he took advantage of their vulnerability and violated their civil rights for his own sick pleasures.”
In Hondo, a former Border Patrol agent produced and distributed hundreds of image and video files depicting a child victim engaged in sexually explicit content. He was sentenced in a federal court in San Antonio to 50 years in prison for 10 counts related to the production, distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the complaint. The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
In another case, a former female Eagle Pass police officer was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for operating a stash house for a human smuggling organization, according to the complaint.
The 54-year-old woman rented multiple properties she owned in Eagle Pass to assist human smugglers. Over a period of a year, 200 foreign nationals were held in her properties after being smuggled across the border, according to the complaint. She collected nearly $37,000 in rent payments at the properties where they were held.
She was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $237,600 judgment, forfeit three properties, her truck, and $23,522 in stash house proceeds seized by law enforcement officers. Other codefendants were also sentenced to several years in prison for their role in operating human smuggling stash houses.
In these cases, all offenders appear to be U.S. citizens.
