Border Patrol Agent Charged in Murder Is Linked to Drug Theft : Courts: He was investigated in 1991 for allegedly stealing cocaine that had been seized as evidence, but no action was taken against him.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death last month of a Mexican man near Nogales, Ariz., was previously accused of stealing cocaine seized as evidence in a major drug bust, according to documents filed this week in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Federal authorities knew of the cocaine-skimming allegation against Agent Michael Andrew Elmer as early as January, 1991, when someone slipped an anonymous letter under the door of the office of the inspector general, a Justice Department oversight body. The letter alleged that Elmer and two other agents had stolen the cocaine and were selling it, the court documents state.

Federal authorities investigated the allegations but took no action against Elmer, according to defense and prosecution attorneys in the Arizona murder case.

However, the murder charge against Elmer apparently prompted federal investigators to re-examine the drug allegations last month. They interviewed the agent’s ex-wife, who told authorities that Elmer had brought home five kilograms of cocaine from a drug bust in October, 1990, intending to sell it, but that both she and Elmer began using the drugs, the court documents show.

On Oct. 24, 1990, Border Patrol agents near Nogales seized 4,391 pounds of cocaine from a group of smugglers on horseback. It was the largest cocaine seizure ever made by border guards.

William King, assistant special agent in charge of the inspector general’s office in Tucson, declined to comment on any internal inquiries. The documents entered into the court record are reports from the inspector general, an internal affairs unit that investigates allegations of misconduct leveled at federal agents.

The court papers also allege that Elmer bragged earlier this year to his ex-wife that he had shot a suspected drug trafficker along the border near Nogales under circumstances that rights activists say resemble the Oct. 28, 1991, shooting of a Mexican marijuana courier, Jesus Luna Vidana.

The courier, who survived but lost much of his right leg, has filed a $4-million civil claim against U.S. immigration authorities. An attorney who represents Vidana and the family of the man allegedly killed by Elmer has publicly voiced suspicions that Elmer was involved in the earlier shooting, even though Border Patrol records indicate that Elmer was off duty that night.

In the latest murder case, a fellow agent, Thomas Allan Watson, stated in court documents that Elmer told him he considered dragging the body of the dead man, Dario Miranda Valenzuela, across the border into Mexico and burying the remains.

Prosecutors charge that Elmer shot Valenzuela in the back on the evening of June 12 as Valenzuela, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was entering U.S. territory illicitly with two other men, was running toward Mexico.

Watson, fearing that Elmer would kill him as well, ultimately turned Elmer in and led prosecutors to the victim’s body, according to court records. However, authorities say Watson waited 15 1/2 hours before reporting the incident, and three fellow agents who were in the vicinity never reported the shooting.

Prosecutors have charged that Valenzuela could have survived with medical aid.

Michael Piccarreta, a Tucson attorney representing Elmer, denied the cocaine theft allegation and said the accused agent had nothing to do with the shooting of the drug courier in October.

Elmer has also denied the first-degree murder charge, contending through his attorney that the agents suspected that Valenzuela and his two companions were scouts for armed drug traffickers. Authorities found a small amount of marijuana in the dead man’s pockets. Traces of marijuana and cocaine were also found in the victim’s blood, and some cocaine was detected in his nostrils, records show.

“They’re blaming him (Elmer) for everything except the Kennedy assassination,” Piccarreta said of his client.

Elmer, 29, is believed to be the first patrol agent charged with murder for on-duty activities. He is being held without bail at the federal correctional facility in Tucson.