gnukid - 8-27-2010 at 09:27 PM
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/officer-115123-smuggli...
August 05, 2010 12:44 PM
By ILDEFONSO ORTIZ, The Brownsville Herald
A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer pleaded guilty to two counts of an eight-count indictment charging him with human smuggling and
bribery, court records show.
According to documents from the U.S. Attorneys Office, Rudy Trace Soliz III, 49, admitted that on Sept. 25, 2009, while working as a CBP officer at
the B&M International Bridge he allowed 28-year-old Erica Cespedes to bring undocumented immigrants and merchandise into the country in return for
sexual favors.
Cespedes has pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and is scheduled to be sentenced next
Wednesday, court records show.
Soliz remains out on a $100,000 bond with a $15,000 deposit pending his sentencing hearing on Nov. 8. The plea – which reportedly was not part of any
plea agreement – was made Wednesday evening, the day before jury selection was set to begin for his trial.
The arrest of Soliz and Cespedes came after an interagency investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional
Responsibility, the FBI, Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, and CBP Internal Affairs.
Authorities began investigating Soliz after an informant stated that between January and October 2009, a person “had crossed a number of undocumented
aliens via a corrupt CBP officer named Rudy Trace Soliz using his inspection lane at B&M International Bridge,” court records show.
Soliz was interviewed by special agents the following day and subsequently arrested. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office,
Soliz resigned from CBP after 11 years of service on the same day he was arrested.
Cespedes was arrested in October during a sting operation after she crossed B&M International Bridge with 35 pounds of cocaine, court documents
show. Because of the ongoing operation, instead of being arrested by federal officials, she was taken into custody by Brownsville police and later
turned over to ICE special agents.
Court records show that for the arrest, police pulled Cespedes over at the intersection of International Boulevard and Cleveland Street for a traffic
violation. A police canine alerted the police officer to the presence of narcotics in the trunk of the car, where authorities discovered the bundles
of cocaine.