Judge Dismisses Bribery Charges Against 2 From Mexican Consulate

A judge in Imperial County dismissed criminal charges Monday against two Mexican consulate staff members who were accused of bribing a Calexico official with $600 in an effort to learn the identity of a U.S. Border Patrol agent involved in a controversial shooting.

The likelihood that the two were eligible for diplomatic immunity figured in the decision of the Imperial County district attorney’s office to request that charges be dropped, authorities said.

The case had drawn headlines in both Mexico and the United States and had been somewhat of an embarrassment for Enrique M. Loaeza, the Mexican consul general in San Diego, whose office employed the two, both of whom were posted to the consulate in Calexico.

Loaeza said Monday that he was pleased by the outcome and reiterated his position that no Mexican government official was ever authorized to make a payment to obtain information.

Municipal Judge Matias R. Contreras acted after prosecutors requested that the charges against Ascencion Martinez, 46, chancellor of the Calexico consulate, and Karla Correa Ibarra, 27, a secretary, be dropped. If convicted on the two bribery-related counts, each could have received up to four years in state prison, authorities said.

Imperial County Dist. Atty. William Jaynes said he thought it likely that the judge would have rejected the case on the grounds that the two accused had been acting within the scope of their consular duties. Hence Jaynes said the county decided to seek a dismissal.

“We felt there was no further benefit to the taxpayers of Imperial County to litigate this issue and further,” Jaynes said.

Marco E. Lopez, the San Diego attorney who represented the two accused, asserted that they were shielded from prosecution by diplomatic immunity, which has long protected foreign government agents posted abroad. The attorney also charged that Calexico Police Chief Leslie Ginn had entrapped the two and “chose to ignore centuries of international law” in pursuing the case.

Ginn has denied using entrapment and said the case was treated like any other bribery attempt.

The two were arrested Dec. 11 at a fast-food restaurant in El Centro, allegedly after they offered a police employee $600 in an effort to obtain the identity of the agent, police said. Calexico police had arranged a “sting” at the site after one of the suspects had approached a police employee, authorities said.

At the time, Mexican officials were seeking to learn the identity of the Border Patrol agent who shot Eduardo Garcia Zamores, a 15-year-old Mexicali youth, as he was perched on the border fence separating Calexico and Mexicali on Nov. 18. The agent contended that that the youth was brandishing a rock--a story denied by the boy, who is recuperating.

Mexican authorities were exploring the possibility of seeking to extradite the agent, but were unaware of his identity. Border Patrol and Calexico police refused to identify the agent.

The shooting, the most recent in a series of shootings by U.S. law enforcement agents along the California-Mexico border, prompted protests on both sides of the international line. The FBI investigated, and federal prosecutors are said to be still reviewing the evidence.