Former INS Inspector Convicted

A former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector and two other people have been convicted in a smuggling scheme that brought more than three tons of cocaine across the Mexican border into the United States at Calexico, authorities said Tuesday.

Ernest M. Garcia, 41, is the second former INS inspector at Calexico convicted of drug smuggling this year, after federal officials increased efforts to shut down the Imperial Valley’s “cocaine corridor” and stamp out corruption at the border crossing. His brother, Inspector Arthur Garcia, was convicted in January for his role in helping a separate ring of smugglers transport six tons of cocaine from Mexico.

Federal prosecutors said Ernest Garcia, who no longer worked for the INS, bribed border inspectors and made other arrangements to help smugglers avoid inspection as they drove loads of cocaine across the border between September 1994 and January 1995.

The smugglers carried 800-pound loads of cocaine in the trunks of cars and used spotters and cellular telephones to signal the drug drivers and inspectors at the Calexico port of entry, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick K. O’Toole.

Ernest Garcia and two El Centro residents, Guillermo Guerena, 34, and Nora Lilia Chavez-Garcia, 26, were convicted in the plot and face possible life terms in prison. A fourth defendant pleaded guilty during trial, and the jury deadlocked on charges against a fifth man.

U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez ordered $1.2 million in proceeds from the smuggling ring handed over to the federal government.

Authorities stepped up scrutiny of possible corruption at the Calexico crossing in recent years amid concerns about drugs flowing into the Los Angeles area through the Imperial Valley pipeline from Mexico. The long-ignored desert outpost was seen as particularly vulnerable to corruption because many of the INS and customs inspectors at the port of entry grew up nearby and have close family and other ties on both sides of the border.

Earlier probes resulted in the convictions of a third INS inspector and a Mexican citizen thought to be a smuggling kingpin. The FBI said Tuesday that the multi-agency task force is continuing its investigation of corruption at the Calexico crossing.