Ex-border agent guilty in pot case

Pub Date: April 15,2005
Pub Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050415/news_7m15luis.html

Ex-border agent guilty in pot case

Man enters plea on smuggling charge

By Onell R. Soto
STAFF WRITER

April 15, 2005

A former Border Patrol agent who was caught ferrying 750 pounds of
marijuana from the Mexican U.S.-Mexico border in Imperial County in
his patrol vehicle pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court
yesterday to drug smuggling.

Luis Higareda, 31, faces a minimum five-year sentence at a hearing
scheduled for July 5. He is being held without bail.

Under questioning by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara L. Major, he said
that while in uniform, he met some people in an off-road area on Jan.
4 and they loaded his patrol vehicle with duffel bags full of
marijuana.

He said one of the men got into the back of the truck, where captured
illegal border-crossers usually are placed.

Higareda said he planned to drop off give the marijuana with to other
people who were to distribute it.

Initial reports characterized the incident as a high-speed chase, but
prosecutor John Kirby said in an earlier court hearing that Higareda
was driving fast while he was followed by undercover agents but
didn't lead them on a chase.

Higareda and his passenger, Marcelino Verdugo Cota, 24, were arrested
about 20 miles from the border in Holtville.

Verdugo, a citizen of Mexico who lived for a while in the United
States, also pleaded guilty to drug smuggling yesterday and is
scheduled to be sentenced the at the same time as Higareda.

Higareda's lawyer, Steven Barth, said outside court that the former
agent is "very remorseful."

Barth said he would investigate whether Higareda qualifies for an
exception to the minimum 5-five-year prison sentence.

Nobody else has been arrested in connection with the smuggling
attempt, authorities said.

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Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; onell.soto [at] uniontrib.com
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