Posted by
Becky on Saturday, July 08, 2006 5:25:23 PM
Mario Alvarez and Samuel McClaren got caught with their "hands in the cookie jar" not once but several times! The pair accepted bribes from smugglers totaling nearly $200,000 according by the AP article published in the Long Beach Press Telegram this morning. http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4025793. Each pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and one count of filing a false tax return and are expected to get 18 years at sentencing on Sept. 29. From E. Spagat's article:
"These are Border Patrol Agents who smuggled illegal aliens," Said U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. "It doesn't get much worse than that."
I agree. Why were the only charges for bribery and filing a false tax return? Aren't there other laws that apply to these sworn agents who according to the complaint took an illegal alien to Wal-Mart for release instead of deporting to Mexico and brought smugglers to the U.S. in a government vehicle? Yes, they did it for money, but we are at war and these acts are aggressions against the United States to which they swore an oath. The penalties are too light.