Thread: Border agent sentenced

Border agent sentenced
February 11,2006
Cari Hammerstrom
The Monitor

http://cf.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor. ... tion=Local

McALLEN — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was sentenced Friday to 36 months in a federal prison for conspiring to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the United States through two ports of entry in Starr County and one in Zapata County.

Fabian Solis, 42, was a Customs inspector stationed at the Roma, Rio Grande City and Falcon Heights ports of entry.

According to a grand jury indictment, he worked with several other people to carry out his illegal enterprise.

A woman who has not been indicted, referred to as "Jane Doe 1" in Solis’ indictment, would leave the United States through the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge to pick up undocumented aliens in Mexico. She would then contact Solis via telephone to tell him she was arriving at the port of entry at which he was working. Solis would then wave her car, filled with undocumented aliens, through his lane without inspecting the vehicle and without checking the passengers’ immigration status.

From there, the passengers were taken to a "stash house" south of Laredo, where arrangements were made to transport them further north.

"Jane Doe 1" would then meet with Solis after his shift ended and pay him $300 per person smuggled into the United States.

The indictment lists more than 20 smuggling incidents in which Solis was involved between April 2003 and January 2004. It does not list how many undocumented immigrants were smuggled in, but at the time of his indictment in December 2004, the U.S. Attorney’s office said it would work to make sure Solis forfeited payoffs totaling about $170,000.

He has been free on a $100,000 bond since his arrest and indictment in 2004.

U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Hinojosa found Solis guilty in April 2005.

And on Friday, U.S. Marshals took him into custody to begin serving his 3-year sentence.

Solis is ordered to serve a 2-year term of supervised release after completing the prison term.

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Cari Hammerstrom covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4424.

Seems like a light sentance for committing treason.

The fine is too light..the sentence too short. How does this serve as an example to other lawbreakers and treasonous persons? I thought the sentence for treason was death.

RR

I think that the word treason needs to be redefined here. Since we aren't officially at war with Mexico and since the people this jerk let in are presumably non-combatents, I guess we can't hang him after all.

Too bad!

Of course, they can always lock him up and throw away the key. But then he'll probably become an MS-13 gang member in prison anyway.