Pubdate: Fri, 17 Feb 2006
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2006 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: James Pinkerton
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)

CUSTOMS AGENT LET DRUGS SLIP THROUGH

Case Is Example of Border Official Lured to 'Dark Side' By Easy Money

With surveillance cameras secretly rolling, U.S. Customs Inspector 
Lizandro Martinez greeted the driver of a truck that pulled into his 
inspection lane at 5:30 a.m.

The driver, a pal from the inspector's days as a police officer more 
than a decade earlier, told Martinez that the cargo he'd been 
expecting was right behind his truck. And sure enough, a white Ford 
pickup appeared. It carried 1,635 pounds of marijuana, packed and 
ready for the streets of America.

But Martinez didn't stop it, didn't inspect it, didn't call out the 
dogs. He just waved it through on that lonely morning, FBI agents 
say. And for that, agents say, drug traffickers paid him $10,000.

Three years later, Martinez, 44, is behind bars, suspected of taking 
more than $1 million in bribes while waving through more than 50 tons 
of drugs -- more than his law-abiding colleagues seized at eight 
South Texas ports of entry in an entire year.

As Martinez awaits sentencing, set for April 26, authorities are 
trying to figure out what happened, how an agent on the front lines 
of the so-called "drug war" went so terribly bad. And what's 
emerging, some former law enforcement officials say, is a troubling 
picture, a striking example of how Customs failed to prevent flagrant 
corruption on the Texas-Mexico border.

Neither Martinez, in custody since his arrest on Nov. 7, 2004, nor 
his lawyer, Charles Banker, could be reached for comment.

In October, court records show, Martinez pleaded guilty to charges of 
money laundering and conspiracy to import more than 1,000 kilos of 
marijuana. He faces as much as life in prison and a $4 million fine.

What's most disturbing about his case, some law enforcement officials 
say, is that U.S. Customs and Border Protection kept Martinez on its 
payroll even as complaints against him mounted during his 13-year tenure.

Customs internal affairs officers investigated Martinez 15 times, 
resulting in letters of caution, oral and written reprimands, 
mandatory counseling, three short suspensions and two attempts to 
fire him permanently, according to testimony at a Feb. 22, 2005, court hearing.

Customs officials declined to talk about why Martinez wasn't taken 
off the streets sooner. "We don't comment on specific cases," said 
Lynn Holinger, a CBP spokeswoman in Washington.

Martinez kept his job on one occasion, thanks to the Washington, 
D.C.-based National Treasury Employees Union.

Union officials said they only tried to ensure that Martinez was 
treated fairly.

"The role of NTEU or any union is to ensure that employees accused of 
misconduct are fairly represented in proceedings with the agency," 
union president Colleen M. Kelley said in a statement.

Cash Purchases

According to court records, the FBI and Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement learned that Martinez was allegedly taking drug bribes in 
August 2003. The agencies -- along with the IRS and the Texas 
Department of Public Safety -- began investigating him as part of 
what they called Operation Dark Shadows.

Investigators found that Martinez and his wife, Sandra, who was not 
charged in the case, appeared to be living far beyond their means. He 
earned $55,664 a year and she did not report an income. Yet in 2003, 
agents said, the couple made more than $400,000 in cash purchases. 
They bought such items as diamond rings and a diamond-studded Rolex 
watch. They purchased a $240,000 used car dealership in downtown 
McAllen and 10 classic, big-engine "muscle cars" worth $76,800, 
according to government documents.

They also made cash payments toward a $529,963 home in McAllen. The 
luxurious house featured a swimming pool, elaborate stained-glass 
windows, balconies, a basement movie theater and two free-standing 
garages. Each room was equipped with a television.

All despite the fact that Martinez and his wife had gone through 
bankruptcy proceedings in 2000 and had claimed assets of only $7,850, 
court records show.

Martinez began working at Customs in September 1991. He had been a 
police officer in the South Texas town of Hidalgo in 1984 and 1985. 
While there, he met Roberto Dominguez, an officer since 1979. But 
Dominguez was fired in 1996 after an alleged off-duty shoplifting 
incident in McAllen, said his lawyer, Al Alvarez.

Sometime later, federal agents say, Dominguez began working with 
traffickers. They allege he escorted trucks carrying drug loads and 
tipped off Martinez when they were about to cross the border.

In November 2004, Dominguez was indicted along with Martinez and six 
others. Now in custody, Dominguez has pleaded guilty to drug charges 
and awaits sentencing.

During their investigation, agents filmed Martinez as he waved 
drug-laden trucks through his lane at Progreso. The trucks' cargo 
beds were covered with tarps and "filled to the top with marijuana 
.. sometimes you could see it protruding," FBI agent Marella Ruelas testified.

To avoid letting the smugglers know that Martinez was being watched, 
agents allowed the drug loads to pass through Progreso. But they 
arranged for state troopers or police to stop the vehicles later and 
seize the drugs as part of what would appear to be unrelated traffic 
stops, Ruelas said.

The federal indictment formally charged Martinez with allowing eight 
loads of marijuana totalling 9,530 pounds to cross at Progreso. Court 
records show he was accused but not charged in connection with 
another four loads weighing 3,945 pounds, meaning he was linked to a 
total of 13,475 pounds of illicit cargo.

But investigators in the case suspect that Martinez actually waved 
through much more contraband -- more than 100,000 pounds of drugs, 
according to an estimate by an investigator familiar with the case.

That would be more narcotics than was confiscated at eight ports of 
entry stretching from Brownsville to Del Rio in fiscal 2005, ending 
Sept. 30. During that period, inspectors seized 79,633 pounds -- or 
39.8 tons -- of marijuana and 10,600 pounds -- or 5.3 tons -- of 
cocaine from cars and trucks, federal statistics show.

Investigators say their estimates of what Martinez allowed to cross 
are based on interviews with drivers accused of bringing loads across 
the bridge. They calculate he let through at least 100 loads.

Smugglers were so confident, sometimes they crossed the bridge in the 
inspector's lane twice a day, agents say.

The smuggling operation fell apart after one participant and an 
informant began talking to authorities, Alvarez said.

"All these cases end up the same way," said Alvarez. "There is no 
honor among thieves, as they say."

Disciplinary Problems

What surprised some law enforcement officers was that Martinez wasn't 
caught sooner. His history of disciplinary problems came to light at 
the Feb. 22, 2005, McAllen court hearing in which his lawyer was 
appealing a district court decision to hold him and Dominguez without bail.

According to testimony at the hearing:

Customs suspended Martinez for 30 days in August 1993 for allegedly 
threatening to cut off the penis of a man he suspected of having an 
affair with his wife. That punishment was reduced to 14 days after 
union arbitration.

In May 1997, according to testimony, Customs fired Martinez after 
internal affairs officers investigated allegations that he had been 
spotted at a party attended by Mexican drug traffickers, made 
threatening calls to the home where his ex-wife lived and used a 
government vehicle to run personal errands.

But the union got Martinez reinstated, with back pay, in April 1998.

"We defended Mr. Martinez on a charge of misuse of a government 
vehicle, not a drug-related charge," Kelley said in her statement. 
"Whatever he may have been suspected of then or now had no bearing on 
that case, and he was reinstated by a neutral third party.

"In our society, everyone is entitled to a defense and that is what 
we provided Mr. Martinez in the case involving the government 
vehicle. Any attack on our role in that matter is fundamentally an 
attack on the right of every American to have adequate representation 
when accused of an offense."

Given Last Chance

Customs later tried firing Martinez again, accusing the inspector of 
being absent without leave, improperly copying Customs entry 
documents and allegedly forcing a teenage girl to partially disrobe 
even though female inspectors were available, a violation of search guidelines.

But after union arbitration, his proposed dismissal was reduced to a 
30-day suspension in March 2001 and he was transferred to Progreso 
under a "last chance" agreement.

Customs officials say that only a tiny minority of border agents is 
ever accused of drug corruption.

"But is one too many? Darn tooting, and it's a sad thing," said David 
Higgerson, acting director of field operations at the CBP's regional 
office in Laredo.

"We are always concerned with these cases," Higgerson said. "We have 
an ongoing program with our managers to spot these things before it 
gets too bad. We have ways of ferreting out people who go over to the 
dark side. And it's sad. These are people who have taken an oath." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake