The State : Official Guilty in Drug Case
A former part-time U.S. Customs inspector, accused of waving truckloads of marijuana across the border checkpoint last year, pleaded guilty in San Diego to committing official corruption. Jose Angel Barron, 41, of San Ysidro also pleaded guilty to money-laundering and possessing more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute. Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip L.B. Halpern said Barron could be sentenced to life in federal prison--plus a 35-year consecutive term--on the charges. Halpern said Barron would have to serve at least 10 years of the life term before he is eligible for parole. Barron, also a San Diego city parks manager, was arrested by Customs internal-affairs agents in May, 1987, while working in the primary inspection lanes at the border crossing. The agents had conducted on-the-job surveillance of Barron since February, 1987, and watched as he allowed two pickup trucks with camper shells and blacked-out windows to cross the border without inspecting them.
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