Former Border Patrol Agent Gets Prison For Drug Dealing, Bribery

u.s. border patrol
[Photo Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection]

TUCSON – A former Border Patrol agent, Jose Antonio Yanez, was sentenced to 72 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Receiving a Bribe, and Importation of a Schedule IV Controlled Substance.

According to the Department of Justice, from 2014 to 2016 Yanez used his position to assist drug traffickers to transport thousands of kilograms of marijuana while working as a United States Border Patrol Agent at the Douglas and Naco stations.

Yanez turned Border Patrol cameras away from an 18-person group of smugglers carrying marijuana in large backpacks, purposely left his area of responsibility so that vehicles containing more than 4,100 kilograms of narcotics could cross the border, and provided law enforcement sensitive materials and information to co-conspirators, all in exchange for money.

Yanez admitted to accepting more than $16,000 in bribes during the conspiracy.

Yanez personally smuggled at least 160 alprazolam and tramadol pills into the United States from Mexico to distribute to another person.

Yanez, of Pirtleville, was also ordered to pay $340,434 in restitution to United States Border Patrol, for salary he received while he was involved in the conspiracy.

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