INS Agent Pleads Not Guilty in Ransom Scheme
A Los Angeles INS agent pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges that he removed illegal immigrants from a lockup and collaborated with a convicted drug trafficker to ransom them to their relatives in the United States.
Jesse J. Gardona, a 15-year veteran of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, remains free on $100,000 bail.
Gardona allegedly turned over 11 immigrants he had arrested in July, 1998, to Jose Jesus Quintanilla-Guzman, who operated out of an East Los Angeles body shop.
The immigrants were released after families paid as much as $1,800 each, according to an FBI affidavit.
U.S. District Judge Manuel Real set a June 27 trial date for Gardona, Quintanilla, 33, and Leticia Chavez, 23, of Huntington Park, who is accused of aiding in the scheme.
Gardona, 40, of Sherman Oaks, faces as much as 40 years in prison if convicted.
Quintanilla and Chavez are both in custody.
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