Posted on 11/29/2007 2:39:00 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
EL PASO, Texas — Months after being shot by a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents, an admitted Mexican drug smuggler was back in the United States driving loads of marijuana, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigator said Thursday.
DEA Agent Robert Holguin testified at a bond hearing that Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, the smuggler shot during a failed smuggling attempt in 2005, has been connected to at least two more smuggling attempts. Aldrete is facing drug charges after his arrest at the border this month.
Holguin said one of the later smuggling attempts, in September 2005, ended after Aldrete ditched a marijuana-laden van in a pecan orchard after running into Border Patrol agents. Aldrete apparently told a friend "everything went bad" and he was forced to run south into Mexico, Holguin said.
Aldrete was shot in the buttocks in the 2005 incident after crashing a marijuana-loaded van during a chase by Border Patrol agents. As he ran away, former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean shot him.
They were convicted of shooting Aldrete and trying to cover up the incident, and both former agents are serving sentences of more than a decade in federal prison. The convictions and sentences have become a rallying cry among Republican supporters, and several members of Congress have asked the Bush administration to intervene and release the men from prison.
Thursday's bond hearing ended without a decision from U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard P. Mesa after the judge agreed to give Aldrete's lawyer, Ruben Hernandez, until next week to submit written evidence in support of setting Aldrete free until his trial. Hernandez declined to comment after the hourlong hearing.
Aldrete was indicted last month on charges of conspiracy and possession of controlled substance with intent to distribute. He was arrested earlier this month at the border after being lured to the border by federal agents, Holguin said.
"It was a ruse," Holguin said, adding that he didn't know what agents promised Aldrete.
According to the indictment, Aldrete was responsible for at least two loads of marijuana being brought to the United States.
Holguin testified that an El Paso County man, Cipriano Ortiz Hernandez, first identified Aldrete as the driver of one of those loads in October 2005, after agents found 750 pounds of marijuana at his house. Ortiz has pleaded guilty to drug charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Details of Ortiz's plea agreement have been sealed.
Another man, who has not been identified, later told agents about the September 2005, incident, Holguin testified.
Oral arguments for the former agents' appeals are scheduled to be heard Monday in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
This guy has to be the worst drug smuggler ever. We know of two times he tried to smuggle pot into the U.S, and once he tried to transport it. The first time he was immediately spotted, panicked, and ended up ditching his load and getting shot.
The second time he apparently ALSO got immediately spotted, panicked, and ended up ditching his load, but getting away without being shot.
The THIRD time he managed to get a little ways but his van broke down and he had to dump his load at a safe house where it was immediately seized.
It’s amazing he got the 3rd chance, and kind of surprising if what’s been said here is true that he didn’t show up dead somewhere after losing 3 loads.
Now he’ll get to spend a good long time in prison.
Come on, it's not like he'll run back across the border.
/S
ping
He may be the best smuggler. Someone is trusting him with the goods. It is no telling how many loads of maryjane he has smuggled or waltzed across the border into this country while on a visa from Sutton. He was only caught 3 times in 2 years.
Sutton should be on trial too.
Yes but we will never know how many times he got away with it.
I agree- this one had a regular (likely daily) route. Just knowing the sort of folks he works for if he wasn’t getting results, his body would have been found by now.
Then imagine that a court of the United States and an Attorney of the United States convicted two officers of the law on his testimony.
Sutton made a mockery of the entire judicial system that day. And every day they spend in prison prolongs that mockery.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.