Two guards face smuggling charge
Two security guards for a company that returns illegal immigrants to Mexico for the U.S. Border Patrol have been charged with conspiring to release undocumented people into the United States.
The two guards for Wackenhut Corp., Christopher Saint Lucero and Manley Lamont Smith, were arrested Sunday while allegedly trying to smuggle two detainees they thought were illegal immigrants.
One was an undercover border patrol agent posing as an immigrant from El Salvador.
The guards were supposed to remove the detainees from the country at the San Ysidro port of entry.
Instead, they allegedly agreed to take them to Los Angeles for $5,000, the complaint said.
The defendants, who were arraigned Wednesday, have yet to enter a plea.
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-- Rich Marosi
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