Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jul 2003
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.uniontrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Author: Sandra Dibble

FILNER CALLS FOR BETTER SEARCHES OF SEIZED CARS

Congressman cites "pattern" of selling vehicles with drugs

Prompted by the case of a Chula Vista man imprisoned in Mexico, U.S. Rep.
Bob Filner yesterday called on the federal government to conduct more
thorough inspections of seized vehicles before selling them to the public.

"This is completely unacceptable," Filner, D-San Diego, said from
Washington, D.C. "Customs and Border Protection must be held accountable for
their actions."

Mexican authorities arrested Adrian Rodriguez, 25, a U.S. citizen, July 15
after a mechanic in Tijuana found 33 pounds of marijuana inside his car.

Rodriguez and his wife, Ali Jazmin Rodriguez, bought the 1991 Volkswagen
Passat on March 5 for $600 at an auction of vehicles confiscated by customs
inspectors. It had been seized four months earlier at the San Ysidro border
crossing after inspectors discovered nearly 100 pounds of pot in the rear
bumper and behind the dashboard.

The case is the most recent of several involving vehicles seized by U.S.
agencies and later auctioned. In three instances - involving seizures by
customs, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the former U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service - the owners filed suit in federal court. They
alleged the government was negligent when it sold the cars without
conducting more exhaustive searches.

"We now have a pattern - over several years - that makes it clear that the
U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection is responsible for selling car
s to the general public that still contain drugs," Filner said. "We cannot
le t a U.S. citizen rot in a Mexican jail due to what may be an error made
by the U.S. government."

A Customs and Border Protection statement Wednesday said "a systemized and
layered inspection process" is used on "all vehicles seized with narcotics."
But the statement also said "no search procedure will prove in every case t
o be 100 percent effective."

"Customs and Border Protection continue to review all inspection processes,"
the statement said.

Rodriguez, a graduate of the University of California San Diego, has a
14-month-old son. Until his arrest, he worked with neglected children in Sa
n Diego for New Alternatives, a social service agency.

He insists he had no idea there was marijuana in the car until he brought
the car to the mechanic to check out a strange noise. The mechanic
discovered 10 packets of pot in a hidden compartment. The marijuana had bee
n wrapped in multiple layers of plastic, aluminum foil, tape and wrapping
paper, according to a Mexican federal police source who saw the drugs.

Rodriguez agreed with the shop's owner to call police and waited for
officers.

Yesterday, he remained at La Mesa State Penitentiary in Tijuana, where he
has been held since July 15 on charges of drug possession. Mexican law does
not allow bond in such cases.

On Wednesday, federal judge Jacinto Ramos Castillejos ruled that Rodriguez
should be held for trial.

The court's secretary, Jose Cuadras, said yesterday that the judge did not
have sufficient evidence to dismiss the charges. The judge received no
written and certified papers to document Rodriguez's claim that he bought
the Passat at an auction, Cuadras said.

"The judge does not base himself on imagination, only on what's written,"
Cuadras said. "He conscientiously studied the evidence."

Jose M. Larroque, a Tijuana attorney for the U.S. firm Baker & McKenzie,
said tight deadlines can make it difficult to get required documents to
Mexico.

"Unless the judge gets it on the record, which is very similar to the U.S.,
he just can't use it," said Larroque, who has law degrees on both sides of
the border. "He needs to have a paper trail, and that can create a big
problem."

Rodriguez's wife said yesterday that her husband's mother sought the car's
seizure documents soon after the arrest, but was told she had to put the
request in writing. The family was too distraught, Ali Jazmin Rodriguez
said, and was unable to find immediate help in writing the request.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh