Posted on 01/09/2008 5:00:39 AM PST by radar101
Talk about unusual punishment.
A former Marine recruiter imprisoned for his role in an undercover FBI drug sting recently came face-to-face with the informant who helped put him behind bars — only this time the other man was his jailer.
Jared A. Wright, who is serving a seven-month sentence in the Navajo County Jail in connection with the case, recently was guarded by Frank Arvizu, a controversial figure in Operation Lively Green, a federal corruption investigation.
Arvizu, an FBI informant who posed as a member of a fictitious drug cartel, helped orchestrate the sweeping sting operation that ensnared dozens of military personnel, police officials and even prison guards. The informant also was involved in one of the sting's more bizarre chapters, when FBI informants and drug runners hosted strippers and prostitutes while staying in Las Vegas, according to court records.
Wright's attorney and another Marine connected to the case were alarmed by the coincidence, though the situation appears to have been resolved.
Wright, who worked as a sergeant out of the Marines' Midtown recruiting office, began serving his time after being sentenced in November for transporting roughly 65 pounds of cocaine in February 2003.
Federal prison officials transferred Wright to the Navajo County Jail in Holbrook from a facility in Florence, where he had begun serving his sentence. Wright also has to pay $3,000 in fines, equal to the amount he was paid to run the drugs.
The former Marine told family and friends last week that Arvizu was working at the jail and had confronted him, said Marine Sgt. Jeff Edwards.
Edwards recently had military charges against him in connection to Operation Lively Green dropped, though officials are in the process of separating him from the service. The Tucson native worked with Wright in the recruiting office, where they became friends.
After seeing Wright in the jail, Arvizu and other guards gave him a hard time, Edwards said.
"I don't think that it's ethical for him to not only be in charge of Jared, but in charge of anybody else," said Edwards, who pointed out that Arvizu helped convict former prison guards.
An e-mail sent to Arvizu by the Star was not immediately returned.
Upon learning about Arvizu's presence, Wright's attorney, Raul A. Miranda, asked that his client be transferred. The transfer has been granted, though it's not clear when Wright will be leaving or where he'll be incarcerated next.
"I found it particularly appalling," Miranda said of Arvizu working in front of Wright. "Certainly Frank Arvizu should not be a detention officer for anybody involved in this case."
Arvizu's status as a detention officer at the jail is unclear.
Both Miranda and Edwards said Arvizu has stopped working at the jail, though Navajo County Sheriff's Office officials failed to respond to repeated inquiries into Arvizu's job status.
Because sheriff's officials wouldn't return calls, it was unknown how long Arvizu had been working in the jail or the circumstances surrounding his apparent departure.
● Contact reporter Aaron Mackey at 573-4138 or at amackey@azstarnet.com.
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