BajaNomad - "The Hammer" goes down... Another San Ysidro Border Inspector Bites the dust.

"The Hammer" goes down... Another San Ysidro Border Inspector Bites the dust.

Woooosh - 10-1-2010 at 12:31 PM

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Calif-Border-Insp...

How many c-ckroaches are there? Geeesh.

Border Inspector "Hammer" Charged With Bribery:

A San Diego border inspector, known as “Hammer,” has been charged with bribery, smuggling illegal immigrants and helping smuggle nearly five tons of marijuana, according to federal prosecutors. Lorne “Hammer” Jones, 46, from Chula Vista was arrested Thursday while working at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing. His alleged crimes span a decade, according to court documents.

A Special Agent was contacted by a witness who later produced a photograph of Lorne Leslie Jones and Jones’ ex-wife allowing illegal immigrants and marijuana into the United States in return for monetary bribes, according to court documents.

“Various witnesses were interviewed and they detailed a process in which aliens in Tijuana (including some Brazilians) paid smuggling fees to members of the organization who had a code system in place to determine the date, time and lane number that Jones was assigned,” according to a statement from Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Brian Dennison.

Jones would allegedly allow illegal immigrants and marijuana through his lane without inspection. Prosecutors say he aided in smuggling more than 9,300 pounds of marijuana.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was assigned to San Diego's San Ysidro and Otay Mesa crossings across from Tijuana, Mexico.

Jones faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years if convicted on the drug charge and five years if convicted on a charge of bribery and immigrant smuggling.

Source: Border Inspector "Hammer" Charged With Bribery | NBC San Diego

DENNIS - 10-1-2010 at 12:54 PM

The charge should be treason.

Mexicorn - 10-1-2010 at 01:00 PM

Lets not jump to conclusions on this one. CBP is always moving Inspectors so it would be difficult to be sure where one will be on a specific day or hour.

sanquintinsince73 - 10-1-2010 at 01:19 PM

El Martillo got hammered. I agree with Dennis, the charge should be treason. I was watching Border Wars the other night and they said some cartels are raising kids to grow up and try to join CBP.
I really see no end in sight to this dope smuggling thing. Either we (USA) stops consuming, or we should go spray the fields with agent orange or paraquat.

woody with a view - 10-1-2010 at 04:34 PM

just cut his chilito off and let him bleed out...... and televise it.

sanquintinsince73 - 10-1-2010 at 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by woody with a view
just cut his chilito off and let him bleed out...... and televise it.

Better yet, make him smoke 9,300 lbs. of dope in 4 hours. He'll still be high when he request's permission from St. Peter to enter the pearly gates.

k-rico - 10-1-2010 at 05:02 PM

Paying off border guards is THE way it's done. Always has been at San Ysidro.

What? You think only Mexicans are corrupt? Every man has his price.

[Edited on 10-2-2010 by k-rico]

sanquintinsince73 - 10-1-2010 at 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by k-rico
Paying off border guards is THE way it's done. Always has been at San Ysidro.

What? You think only Mexicans are corrupt? Every man has his price.

[Edited on 10-2-2010 by k-rico]

You are sadly mistaken, K-Rico. Many of us still hold dearly those values which were instilled in us by our parents. True, there is corruption in The U.S. but I like to think not on the same magnitude as in Mexico. Another difference is that when our officials are caught, they go to prison. Each Mexican president in recent history has become extremely wealthy just before leaving office from all of the money they steal. Just look at Carlos Salinas De Gortari. His brother Raul also siphoned money. Wasn't he caught in Texas with $118,000,000.00? There is a culture of corruption in Mexico that starts from the very young. I don't know if it is the poverty that drives corruption or just plain 'ol greed. Do you remember those recent television commercials in Mexico that went like this?:
"Tienes el valor, o te vale?". Draw your own conclusions.

bajalou - 10-1-2010 at 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sanquintinsince73
You are sadly mistaken, K-Rico. Many of us still hold dearly those values which were instilled in us by our parents. True, there is corruption in The U.S. but I like to think not on the same magnitude as in Mexico. Another difference is that when our officials are caught, they go to prison. Each Mexican president in recent history has become extremely wealthy just before leaving office from all of the money they steal. Just look at Carlos Salinas De Gortari. His brother Raul also siphoned money. Wasn't he caught in Texas with $118,000,000.00? There is a culture of corruption in Mexico that starts from the very young. I don't know if it is the poverty that drives corruption or just plain 'ol greed. Do you remember those recent television commercials in Mexico that went like this?:
"Tienes el valor, o te vale?". Draw your own conclusions.

Do you really believe that all the drugs that come into the USA from Mexico, Columbia and other countries and all of the drugs produced in the USA can be distributed throughout the country without massive corruption of all levels of law enforcement in the USA? Sure, many LE personnel are dedicated and honest, but the scale of drug distribution and use in the USA could not be done without the help of many at can't resist the enormous amounts of money available.

Yeah, hang him high

Dave - 10-1-2010 at 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by woody with a view
just cut his chilito off and let him bleed out...... and televise it.

Helping to poison all those poor, innocent Americans who are forced into using illegal drugs. :rolleyes:

Baja&Back - 10-1-2010 at 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sanquintinsince73

Quote:

There is a culture of corruption in Mexico

??? You think there ISN'T a culture of corruption in Washington DC???
How do you think those politicians stay in power for 10, 20 ,30 years???
How do you think govt contracts are let???
Have you ever heard of porkbarrel politics???
The political latter goes DOWN in any country, not up.

Don't just blame Mexico. It's the same all over the world - including your and my back yard.
:lol:

[Edited on 10-2-2010 by Baja&Back]

Woooosh - 10-1-2010 at 09:43 PM

Crime pays. That's the bottom line. Ten years of smuggling might get "THe Hammer" ten years in Jail? OK maybe 5 years more. Luckily hidden savings account don't accrue interest... oh yeah, real savings accounts don't either. Crime pays big time. That's what sucks.

sanquintinsince73 - 10-1-2010 at 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Baja&Back

Quote:

Originally posted by sanquintinsince73

Quote:

There is a culture of corruption in Mexico

[Edited on 10-2-2010 by Baja&Back]

When I say "Culture of corruption", I am refering to Mexican society in general. There are many good, honest people but from a young age children see that almost everyone is on the take. Just about everyone in the tourist and hospitality industries will hammer you for a little more $$ if they can. Washington? These people in office now are the most corrupt that I've seen in years.

k-rico - 10-2-2010 at 04:15 AM

http://video.pbs.org/video/1092331033

sanquintinsince73 - 10-2-2010 at 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by k-rico
http://video.pbs.org/video/1092331033

Good video, thank you K-Rico. But you cannot compare the level of corruption in Mexico to U.S.

Bail set for border agent charged with corruption

BajaNews - 10-3-2010 at 08:07 AM

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/10/01/...

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
October 1, 2010

San Diego, CA (AP) --

A federal judge set bail at $100,000 Friday for a border inspector nicknamed "Hammer" who is charged with taking bribes to help illegal immigrants and vehicles loaded with tons of marijuana get through his lane.

Lorne Leslie Jones is the latest in a string of dozens of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers accused of corruption. His case is noteworthy for the duration of the alleged crimes — from January 2000 to December 2009.

Jones, 46, has worked as a border inspector in San Diego since 1994. He smiled and winked toward a woman seated in the audience during his initial court appearance Friday.

According to the complaint, Jones accepted payments between $10,000 and $20,000 per vehicle for allowing "van loads" of illegal immigrants to be smuggled into the United States from Mexico from 2001 to 2005. He used codes to provide smugglers with his lane assignments at the San Ysidro border crossing connecting San Diego and Tijuana.

Jones allegedly conspired with a driver who was charged with attempting to smuggle nearly 5 tons of marijuana in his truck at San Diego's Otay Mesa crossing in May 2007. The driver was arrested after he was directed away from Jones, who was assigned at the time to work with dogs who sniff vehicles as they approach inspection booths.

The driver told an investigator that he had successfully crossed four times at Otay Mesa with 5 tons of marijuana in his truck each time. He said Jones was working there at the time but the complaint doesn't indicate whether the inspector helped him cross.

In 2002, a driver attempted to go through Jones' lane at the San Ysidro crossing with about 2 1/2 tons of marijuana in a van, but the drugs were seized after a dog found them, according to the complaint.

Jones' court-appointed attorney, David Zugman, declined to comment because he had not been formally notified of his assignment.

The complaint does not tally how much drugs or how many people Jones is accused of smuggling or attempting to smuggle, and it does not say how much he was allegedly paid. An investigator said two people made eight to 10 payments of about $10,000 and one made two payments of $15,000 to $20,000.

CBP says 114 current or former employees have been arrested or charged with corruption related to their jobs since October 2004 through August. There were 15 cases from October 2009 through August, 29 during the previous 12 months, and 21 the year before.

An inspector was charged last week with taking more than $50,000 to wave drug-laden vehicles from Mexico through his lanes in Calexico, Calif., about 120 miles east of San Diego.

CBP declined to comment on the charges against Jones but said it takes corruption seriously and that the overwhelming majority of its employees are honest.

"Corruption by employees tarnishes our badge and our reputation, brings dishonor to our service and most importantly jeopardizes our border security," said Kathryn Butterfield, special agent in charge of CBP's office of internal affairs in San Diego.

DENNIS - 10-3-2010 at 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaNews
A federal judge set bail at $100,000 Friday for a border inspector nicknamed "Hammer" who is charged with taking bribes to help illegal immigrants and vehicles loaded with tons of marijuana get through his lane.

This presents as a bad joke. His bail should have been ten times that to be a deterrent for others who would sell us out.
Now I suppose his union will defend him.

Woooosh - 10-3-2010 at 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

This presents as a bad joke. His bail should have been ten times that to be a deterrent for others who would sell us out.
Now I suppose his union will defend him.

Did you see where the CA pot dispensaries want to go union? What a co-incidence.

JESSE - 10-3-2010 at 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sanquintinsince73

Quote:

No he is not, theres a lot of corruption in US customs, always have been, always will be.

k-rico - 10-3-2010 at 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sanquintinsince73

Quote:

Originally posted by k-rico
http://video.pbs.org/video/1092331033

Good video, thank you K-Rico. But you cannot compare the level of corruption in Mexico to U.S.

I dunno, read about collateralized debt obligations (the real estate types), credit default swaps, no doc loans, ENRON, Bernie Madoff, etc. etc. BIG BIG MONEY corruption in the US. And that's just the schit we know about.

Mexico seems to be chump change corruption in comparison.

[Edited on 10-3-2010 by k-rico]

BajaGringo - 10-3-2010 at 02:02 PM

Mexico probably has more corruption if measured in terms of singular events and is mostly blue collar crime. The USA probably has more corruption in terms of dollars and cents, mostly as white collar crime. Ultimately we are all victims of the corruption whether in the boardroom, border or side of the highway; north and south of the border.

Finger pointing isn't going to make me feel better about any of it...

BajaBruno - 10-3-2010 at 11:07 PM

US law enforcement does have corruption, but ponder where that corruption is. It doesn't involve suspects of murder, rape, robbery, and mayhem. If the police err in those crimes, it is bending or breaking the rules to enforce an arrest or conviction.

The corruption is found in soft morality "crimes" of drugs, gambling, and prostitution, and political crimes like immigration. Law enforcers reflect the community, and when the community believes a law is unjust, the police do not enforce that law. Bad cops take the next step and facilitate the violators for profit, but that is really just a symptom of a legal system which has lost touch with the community.

That these corrupt border patrol officers exist in such large numbers should send the legislature a message. The message is not that the punishment for officer violators should be more severe--that doesn't work, as any decent criminologist knows. The message is that the law does not have community support and needs to be revised.

We could say that these are rogue cops who succumbed to the lure of money to betray the book, but that ignores the psychology of the police mentality. Police officers receive job satisfaction from making arrests. When large numbers of them break the letter of the law it is because they can make a personal rationalization that the law is corrupt, not themselves. They can only make that leap of faith with community support.

I have no regard for crooked cops, but I think the numbers of officers involved is sending a message that the problem will not be solved until Washington starts to listen.

vgabndo - 10-3-2010 at 11:52 PM

Very well said Bruno.

In my judgement, a government of, by and for the people is not impossible. It does, however, involve a lot of personal responsibility; a commodity in somewhat short supply in this culture of late.

I do believe that a population will self regulate. This is incredibly complicated by the introduction of a lot of morality based on myth and dogma rather than chopping wood and carrying water realities.

I have the feeling that the average Mexican has a better handle on what is real than the average American.

Loretana - 10-4-2010 at 12:23 AM

quote sanquintinsince73

"Either we (USA) stops consuming, or we should go spray the fields with agent orange or paraquat."

Now there is a really intelligent solution. Maybe the US should invade their country and impose it's will on a soverign state. And the paraquat/agent orange idea, that really worked in Viet Nam, didn't it??

mtgoat666 - 10-4-2010 at 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBruno
The corruption is found in soft morality "crimes" of drugs, gambling, and prostitution, and political crimes like immigration. Law enforcers reflect the community, and when the community believes a law is unjust, the police do not enforce that law. Bad cops take the next step and facilitate the violators for profit, but that is really just a symptom of a legal system which has lost touch with the community.

That these corrupt border patrol officers exist in such large numbers should send the legislature a message. The message is not that the punishment for officer violators should be more severe--that doesn't work, as any decent criminologist knows. The message is that the law does not have community support and needs to be revised.

We could say that these are rogue cops who succumbed to the lure of money to betray the book, but that ignores the psychology of the police mentality. Police officers receive job satisfaction from making arrests. When large numbers of them break the letter of the law it is because they can make a personal rationalization that the law is corrupt, not themselves. They can only make that leap of faith with community support.

bs.

the motivation is greed, not unjust laws.

DENNIS - 10-4-2010 at 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBruno
That these corrupt border patrol officers exist in such large numbers should send the legislature a message. The message is not that the punishment for officer violators should be more severe--that doesn't work, as any decent criminologist knows. The message is that the law does not have community support and needs to be revised.

How can that be, Bruno? When did customs activities at the gate become a reflection of community approval? If the community approves of illegalities, perhaps the community needs a refresher course in morality.

How large are the numbers of corrupt border patrol officers? Does anybody pretend to know?

BajaBruno - 10-4-2010 at 09:49 AM

Dennis, no one knows how many border patrol officers have been breaking the laws, but it is a good guess that it is more than the "114 current or former employees [that] have been arrested or charged with corruption related to their jobs since October 2004 through August." Even for such a large agency, an average of 19 corruption arrests per year is very dramatic.

I was struck that this CPO officer is accused of allowing only marijuana and illegal aliens to cross. All of us know that much more than weed and aliens crosses the border, but this officer is not accused of allowing cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin to cross. My guess is that a personal morality, which reflects community values that marijuana and aliens are not evil, is responsible for Jones' limitation to these two commodities.

California, where these offenses took place, consistently shows in polls an acceptance of both marijuana and immigration, legal or not. Those community values leak over into law enforcement, where community policing models insist that law enforcement reflect the interests of the public. We see this often in vice crimes. The police do not enforce prostitution laws unless the community complains; speeders in an inappropriately low speed zones are ignored; undocumented aliens are allowed to live unmolested unless they violate another law; and marijuana possession results in a warning instead of an arrest.

Admittedly, the CBP is not the local police, but they are not immune to community pressure. Most minor customs violations result in a warning and confiscation rather than arrest, and most attempted entries by undocumented aliens result in immediate repatriation rather than incarceration for violating immigration laws.

Again, I am not trying to justify a crooked officer, but laws are made by people and they can be repealed by people. When the cops start ignoring law violations, which is the case here, perhaps that is a signal to the lawmakers that some laws need to be reconsidered. No law is sacrosanct--we criminalize behavior and we can decriminalize the same behavior. California did this in the 1970's when it repealed anti-gay laws that prohibited oral or anal sex, and other arcane laws that regulated relationships and bedroom behavior. Community values changed and the law eventually changed with them.

durrelllrobert - 10-4-2010 at 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
[

How large are the numbers of corrupt border patrol officers? Does anybody pretend to know?

guessing that less than 10% of actual corrupt CBP agents are currently under investigation :?:

:

as of 15 Sep 2010 ... The number of CBP corruption investigations opened by the inspector general climbed from 245 in 2006 to more than 770 this year. ...
reynosafree.blogspot.com/.../los-carteles-mexicanos-de-la-droga-la.html

... also another 200+ ICE agents currently under investigation

DENNIS - 10-4-2010 at 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBruno

I was struck that this CPO officer is accused of allowing only marijuana and illegal aliens to cross. All of us know that much more than weed and aliens crosses the border, but this officer is not accused of allowing cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin to cross. My guess is that a personal morality, which reflects community values that marijuana and aliens are not evil, is responsible for Jones' limitation to these two commodities.

Would it not be likely that he had no real knowledge of the contents? It could have been anything.

Quote:

Admittedly, the CBP is not the local police, but they are not immune to community pressure.

What about peer pressure? Is that non-existant at the border? How do fellow officers act in these occurances?

Quote:

When the cops start ignoring law violations, which is the case here, perhaps that is a signal to the lawmakers that some laws need to be reconsidered.

To me it's a sign that more stringent deterrents need to be in place. Laws arn't supposed to be rewritten at the border gate.

I hope we're still speaking of the officer's transgressions and not the criminal traveler.

Anyway, thanks, Bruno.

BajaGringo - 10-4-2010 at 12:54 PM

Quote:

Cops have always turned a blind eye on occasion, be it for the violation or who the violator was. Once they start accepting cash in exchange they are simply crooked IMHO...

sanquintinsince73 - 10-4-2010 at 03:02 PM

Ala. senators, casino owner accused of vote buying
The owner of Alabama's largest casino, four state senators and several lobbyists have been indicted and accused of vote buying in an effort to get a bill passed that would have legalized electronic bingo.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39501068/from/toolbar