FORMER CBP OFFICER SENTENCED FOR DRUG & ALIEN SMUGGLING

Former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspector Luis Enrique Ramirez, 39 was sentenced to 204 months in federal prison today. Ramirez, of Brownsville, Texas, was convicted in March 2011 after pleading guilty to conspiring to transport undocumented aliens within the United States, bringing in undocumented aliens into the United States for private financial gain, accepting bribes in his capacity as a government official, and possessing with intent to distribute a quantity exceeding five kilograms of cocaine.

While employed as a CBP officer, Ramirez admitted he was a member of a drug trafficking organization between November 2007 and January 2009. Further, while on duty on Dec. 17, 2008, he allowed a co-conspirator to drive a vehicle carrying 12 kilograms of cocaine into the US via a vehicle primary inspection lane he was manning. He also accepted money and bribes to help transport undocumented aliens into the United States and to transport them while in the U.S. using his official capacity as a CBP officer to evade detection.

Following his prison term, he will also serve 10 years of supervised release. As part of his sentence, U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen also entered a money judgment in the amount of $500,000 against the defendant, a sum representing the proceeds of Ramirez’s criminal activity payable to the United States.

This case was investigated by agents of the FBI’s Brownsville Resident Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Office of Professional Responsibility, Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General, and CBP – Office of Internal Affairs. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel Castro.