Posted on 09/25/2006 7:03:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO
A former border inspector pleaded guilty Monday to guiding hundreds of illegal immigrants through his checkpoint booth in exchange for cash payments from a smuggling ring.
Michael Anthony Gilliland, a 44-year-old former Marine and agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection for 16 years, admitted in federal district court to letting illegal immigrants through the Otay Mesa crossing in San Diego in exchange for bribes.
He will face up to 35 years in prison when he's sentenced Jan. 12.
Gilliland appeared in court wearing jeans and a blue shirt. Before the hearing he held hands with his wife, Lorena Gilliland, also a Customs and Border Protection agent in Otay Mesa.
Gilliland took off his glasses and cried briefly before replying, "Yes, sir," when U.S. District Court Judge John A. Houston asked for confirmation of his plea.
The charges stem from a January indictment accusing Gilliland and five others of coordinating smuggling operations and deliberately failing to record vehicles that ferried immigrants through border lanes under his supervision. He was arrested in June.
Four of the others also pleaded guilty Monday to charges related to the smuggling plot.
Prosecutor Stephen Tokarz said the sixth defendant had also reached a plea agreement and was expected to appear in court Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Gilliland had taken between $70,000 and $120,000 since 2004.
Wiretaps described in court documents recorded Gilliland, who worked the graveyard shift, speaking in code with two female accomplices about his schedule and how many immigrants would be coming through his lane.
Gilliland has been under house arrest, monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet, since posting $750,000 bond earlier this summer.
Customs and Border Protection has seen a number of corruption cases recently.
Earlier this month, another San Diego border inspector, Richard Elizalda, 55, admitted to one count of accepting bribes as a public official and two counts of bringing illegal aliens into the country for financial gain. Prosecutors said he sent text messages directing drivers to his inspection lane at the San Ysidro border crossing and then waved them through.
He faces up to 35 years in prison and $820,000 in fines.
I hope he has AFLAC.
He faces up to 35 years in prison and $820,000 in fines.
That's a nice start but it should include deportation. He's no American.
Border Patrol agents just doing the work coyotes won't do.
He will plea, get 3-5, and has buried all his ill gotten cash. He will also file bankruptcy, and never pay the fine. Justice is served!
I was thinking that the Feds prosecuting him illustrates their overall failure to get a handle on the situation. They should have let him sweat a little then used him to get intel on the movers for a bust-up sting prosecution in exchange for leniency.
They've basically traded a valuable opportunity for an "example made". This tells me that the Feds don't want to solve the real problem but are willing to rake this guy over (who was probably given an offer he couldn't refuse) for cheap career-enhancement purposes and easy positive publicity.
...."Gilliland has been under house arrest, monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet, since posting $750,000 bond earlier this summer."....
Where does a border patrol agent get $750.000?? Oh, never mind.....
He put up $75,000 (10% of the total is a national standard). Because that's not chump change it illustrates that the guy was on a level where he should have been used to go after bigger fish.
"They've basically traded a valuable opportunity for an "example made". This tells me that the Feds don't want to solve the real problem but are willing to rake this guy over (who was probably given an offer he couldn't refuse) for cheap career-enhancement purposes and easy positive publicity."
Bingo, NRT! But you and I are part of the "great unwashed" and we could never figure this out!
The bail bondsman knows the score, and he ain't worried : )
ping
Neither of these two idiots were Border Patrol Agents. Both were CBP Officers.
Prior to CBP Taking over, corruption was almost completely ignored by INS.
CBP is trying to get a handle on corruption in the ranks; this will do more to stifle smuggling then busting some 2 bit smuggling ring that will be replaced by two others in a matter of minutes.
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