A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer who let 1,200 pounds of weed roll on into the United States on a truck from Mexico was found guilty of several charges by a federal jury.
Luis Vasquez faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine at his sentencing, which is scheduled for April 29, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.
See also:
-Mexican Smugglers Exploit the Corrupt Reputation of U.S. Border Officers
Vasquez was one of several federal officers mentioned in our colleague Monica Alonzo's 2011 cover story on Mexican smugglers taking advantage of corrupt federal employees.
The feds alleged Vasquez was part of a conspiracy to let certain trucks with loads of marijuana to pass through the border, into the United States, without inspection.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says this happened on at least two occasions.
Referencing Alonzo's 2011 story, Vasquez was caught the same month a U.S. Border Patrol agent was caught doing something similar, and the next month, an ICE agent led cops on a chase after he'd been caught, and was tossing bales of weed out of the car along the way.
Alonzo reported that the Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General -- which is one of the parties tasked with rooting out corrupt border agents -- had arrested 160 CBP employees on suspicion of corruption from 2004 through 2011.
We've even reported on the arrests of border agents in the last few months on this blog.
As for Vasquez, the federal jury found him guilty of four federal charges, and as we mentioned above, his sentencing is scheduled for April 29.