MCALLEN, Texas — An officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is facing federal bribery and computer misuse charges following his Thursday morning arrest.
Agents with the FBI and with CBP Internal Affairs arrested officer Julio Trujillo on Thursday morning and he is expected to go before a judge on Friday, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney’s office revealed.
According to authorities, Trujillo is accused of taking $3,600 in exchange for extending the visa of one individual and for assisting a second person in getting a visa. Trujillo is accused of using his position to access a “protected government computer” to do a query on one of the individuals that bribed him.
Trujillo is accused of using the computer to obtain records from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and the FBI in connection with that individual.
If convicted, on the bribery charge, Trujillo is facing up to 15 years in prison while the charge of “exceeding access to a government computer” could result in a five year prison term and a $250,000 fine, the information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed.
Breitbart Texas has reported in the past about corruption within law enforcement agencies along the Texas border. In 2015, El Paso CBP officer Lawrence Madrid was arrested in connection with a human smuggling scheme.
Also in 2015, a judge sentenced to more than six years in prison CBP officer Luis Zavala who was convicted of helping Mexican cartel smugglers move drugs into the U.S. through his inspection lane at an international bridge, Breitbart Texas reported.
In 2015, Arizona state authorities arrested U.S. Border Patrol agent Juan Pimentel as he tried to drive a vehicle loaded with cocaine from the U.S. Mexico border to Chicago, Breitbart Texas reported.
Also in 2015, federal state and local authorities arrested U.S. Border Patrol agent Joel Luna in connection with the kidnapping and beheading of a Honduran illegal alien as part of a Gulf Cartel operation, Breitbart Texas reported at the time. The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office has since obtained an indictment against Luna charging him and other co-conspirators with capital murder charges.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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