INS Agent Charged With Lying Under Oath

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a veteran Immigration and Naturalization Service agent on charges he lied under oath last year during the trial of a shipping executive accused of bribery.

Jesse A. Avestro, 40, an INS special agent, allegedly lied on the stand during the trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles of Steve Mullen, who operated a major warehouse and freight-forwarding company at Los Angeles Harbor. Mullen had been charged with offering bribes to Avestro, who wore an undercover wire as part of the investigation.

Avestro is charged with lying about the sources of information that led to the investigation of Mullen. The agent’s alleged misstatements caused U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter to throw out the case against Mullen, spoiling the prosecutorial fruits of an almost two-year, multi-agency federal investigation of harbor-side corruption at the Port of Los Angeles.

The dismissal was a major embarrassment for U.S. Atty. Nora M. Manella, whose office disqualified itself from the case against Avestro. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section handled the matter.

During the trial, the defense alleged that Avestro pursued a vendetta against Mullen and depicted him as a vindictive officer who entrapped Mullen. In dismissing the case, Judge Hatter ruled that the government failed to look sufficiently into earlier allegations of possible improprieties by Avestro.

An INS official said Avestro would probably be placed on administrative leave with pay until further disciplinary action.