Customs Agent Pleads Guilty in Software Smuggling Case

A senior U.S. Customs Service agent pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to taking thousands of dollars in bribes from an importer and conspiring to smuggle 15,000 counterfeit Microsoft computer programs from Hong Kong to the United States.

Richard Casas, 46, of El Monte faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced in November by U.S. District Judge Lourdes G. Baird.

Casas, a 13-year veteran agent, was arrested in July with four other suspects, including a Huntington Beach lawyer, in the smuggling scheme.

Prosecutors filed bribery charges against Casas on Thursday. In one count, he admitted accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from an importer of magnets in exchange for providing confidential information that the importer could use to eliminate business competition.

In a second bribery count, Casas pleaded guilty to accepting $3,000 from a former police officer who allegedly used a shill to receive informant fees from the Customs Service. Also pleading guilty Friday in the smuggling scheme was Casas’ brother, Edward, 39, of Sylmar. He faces five years in prison.

Last month, attorney Lawrence S. Boyle, a former county prosecutor, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Two other defendants in the smuggling case, Peter Yi, 36, of Chino Hills and his brother, Sung K. Yi, 32, of Cypress are scheduled to go on trial in November.