San Diego

A U. S. District judge in San Diego has sentenced a former Mexican state police officer to a 16-month jail term for his part in the extortion of a man who says he was a U. S. drug informant.

Judge Lawrence J. Irving imposed the sentence Monday on Carlos Nunez Amador, 24, a former agent for the Baja California State Judicial Police in Rosarito, south of Tijuana. Nunez was also sentenced to three years of probation, which is to be waived upon the former officer’s return to Mexico, said Glenn Warren, the lawyer representing Nunez.

Nunez pleaded guilty in March to one felony count of extortion. He was charged with attempting to solicit a bribe of about $5,000 from Luis Roberto Estrella Solano, a one-time El Cajon resident who contends he was a longtime informer for the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

(DEA officials have declined to comment on any links that Estrella, a Mexican citizen, may have with the agency.)

Mexican and U. S. officials questioned Estrella in connection with the shooting death of Jeffrey William Anderson, a former U. S. immigration agent, whose body was found south of Tijuana on Jan. 13.

Estrella, who once shared a house with Anderson, denied having any knowledge of the slaying.

Estrella says that U. S. immigration authorities and San Diego police turned him over in February to Mexican police, who he said subjected him to almost five days of beatings and other torture. He was released from custody only after agreeing to pay the $5,000 bribe, according to court documents.

Nunez, the former state police official, went to the border community of San Ysidro to collect the money. He was arrested there by the FBI, which had been informed of the bribery attempt.

News of the case resulted in the dismissal of five Baja California state police officers, including Nunez and two immediate superiors.