Ex-San Diego CBP Officer sentenced 15 years for allowing drugs through border

A U S Customs and Demarcation Protection officer wears a patch on their sleeve Photo courtesy of Customs and Territory line Protection A former San Diego-based U S Customs and Margin Protection officer who pleaded guilty to allowing vehicles containing drugs to pass through inspection lanes at the U S - Mexico limit was sentenced Friday to years in prison Diego Bonillo admitted to sharing when he was working and his lane assignments at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry with a drug trafficking organization which allowed vehicles carrying fentanyl methamphetamine and heroin to pass undetected into the United States Prosecutors say Bonillo allowed these cars to cross times between October of and February of On one occasion Bonillo informed traffickers that a driver was being followed by law enforcement officers which prosecutors say allowed the driver to abandon the van in a shopping center and flee through the back door of a convenience store In another event Bonillo was forced to refer a driver to a secondary checkpoint because the driver s visa was being revoked for a known tie to someone with a drug trafficking conviction However Bonillo did not monitor the motorcycle to ensure it went to the secondary checkpoint which prosecutors allege was done purposely Both drivers are now fugitives Bonillo pleaded guilty shortly before he was set to go to trial on federal drug importation charges Another San Diego-based CBP Officer Jesse Clark Garcia also pleaded guilty to multiple related charges and is slated to be sentenced later this year Prosecutors say both officers received payments as part of the drug trafficking scheme that allowed them to live well above their means while Bonillo s attorney Marc Carlos argued his client was not living as lavishly as prosecutors claimed In sentencing papers prosecutors cited Gucci purchases a trip to Europe inquiries into purchasing properties in Mexico and just more than in cash deposits Carlos reported the pales in comparison to amounts others were paid and likened Bonillo s compensation to that of a courier rather than a high-level member of the organization Carlos also disagreed with prosecutors contentions that Bonillo was motivated by greed and explained he only became involved in trafficking because he was approached by someone who threatened him and he feared for his family s safety Carlos disclosed he should have shared the alleged threats to his superiors but decided to try and take care of the challenge himself In a report to U S District Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro Bonillo disclosed I was against the wall and I didn t know what to do Bonillo notified the judge that he felt there would be consequences if he did not comply At the end of the day I made that mistake and I m deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart he announced But Assistant U S Attorney Sean Van Demark commented an inspection into the purported threats yielded not a single shred of evidence that Bonillo or any of his family members were threatened Van Demark reported the threats were a fabrication and asserted that despite Bonillo s guilty pleas he had not taken accountability Aside from Bonillo and Garcia several other San Diego-based CBP officers are facing prosecution or have been convicted for similar crimes CBP Officers Farlis Almonte and Ricardo Rodriguez were charged earlier this year for allegedly allowing vehicles containing undocumented people through their lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry Another ex-CBP officer in San Diego Leonard Darnell George was convicted by a jury and sentenced last year to years in prison for taking bribes to allow vehicles containing drugs and settlers through the perimeter City News Institution