Border Patrol Agent Pleads Guilty Over Traffic Stop Incident

A U.S. Border Patrol agent pleaded guilty Monday to obstructing justice for trying to cover up a traffic stop during which he used force and left a motorist injured.

Kenneth L. Stewart, 34, of Murrieta faces up to 10 years in federal prison for obstruction of justice. Sentencing for Stewart, who resigned Monday, is scheduled for July 24.

Prosecutors said Stewart urged his partner, who was not charged, to keep quiet about the stop and later instructed the agent to omit mention of the encounter from an incident report.

Gregory A. Vega, the U.S. attorney for San Diego and Imperial counties, said the plea was a “fair disposition” of a case that the federal government investigated for more than a year.

“An officer who engages in such misconduct not only violates his oath, but also undermines public trust. By pleading guilty, Mr. Stewart accepts responsibility for his criminal behavior and forever forfeits his place among the ranks of law enforcement,” Vega said in a statement.

The incident occurred on the night of March 15, 1999, as Stewart, assigned to the Temecula station since joining the Border Patrol in 1992, and a partner patrolled a rural highway near the northern San Diego County community of Santa Ysabel.

The agents saw a pair of vehicles--a Ford Bronco and a Ford Escort--traveling close to each other and suspected they might be driven by immigrant smugglers. Smuggling vans are often accompanied by a scout car.

When the agents sought to stop the pair, the Bronco sped away and the Escort pulled over. After Stewart’s partner questioned the car’s passenger, Stewart took the driver to the Border Patrol vehicle and “used physical force against him” that resulted in an eye injury and facial bleeding, according to federal prosecutors.

The driver, 31-year-old Alejandro Vega Cano, was slammed against the trunk of the Border Patrol sedan and then shoved to the ground by Stewart, according to the man’s lawyer.

Vega Cano was released at the time but later was charged with misdemeanor aiding and abetting an illegal entry in connection with the incident, said his attorney, Jeffrey Kerrane. Kerrane said Vega Cano has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the federal government and the two agents involved in the stop.

Both Vega Cano and his passenger were permanent residents of the United States.

Stewart’s lawyer said the agent shoved Vega Cano to the ground only after the motorist grabbed Stewart’s arm during questioning. The agents were suspicious before the stop because the car slowed and shifted lanes in an apparent attempt to hinder the agents’ pursuit of the Bronco. The Bronco was subsequently stopped and found to hold an unspecified number of undocumented immigrants.

“There is no plea to any sort of assault. Nobody has ever said this was excessive force,” said James Gattey, who represented Stewart.

The incident has angered San Diego activists who believe Stewart--and his partner--should have been prosecuted for civil rights violations. “This is just a slap on the wrist,” Roberto Martinez, who heads a border project of the American Friends Service Committee, said Monday. Martinez’s group initially reported the incident to the Justice Department.

A Border Patrol spokesman said Monday that better training and oversight have contributed to a 65% drop in the number of complaints of abuses by agents in the past five years. There were 34 such complaints made to the U.S. government last year, said Border Patrol spokesman Roy Villareal.