Thread: Border Patrol Agent Arrested in Smuggling Case

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Bail is denied to ex-Border Patrol agent in smuggling


Native of Mexico is deemed a flight risk
By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 11, 2005

A former Border Patrol agent, accused of lying about his citizenship, also smuggled immigrants in his official vehicle while on duty and was heard talking about smuggling drugs, a prosecutor said yesterday.

A federal judge ruled that Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, should remain in jail without bail to prevent him from fleeing to Mexico, where he was born.

"You are an illegal alien," U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony J. Battaglia told Ortiz. "You have no right to work here. You have no right to live here."

Ortiz resigned from the Border Patrol Friday, the day after he was arrested.

Prosecutor Michelle Jennings said Ortiz helped to smuggle more than 100 people into the United States, used a firearm during a felony and abused his position of trust.

"This is not your run-of-the-mill alien-smuggling charge," she told the judge.

She said Ortiz was caught smuggling immigrants in 2001 and admitted to Border Patrol recruiters that year that he had used cocaine and marijuana.

Jennings said Ortiz was born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and a Guatemalan mother and went to middle school and high school in the Mexican state of Sonora.

Ortiz served in the U.S. Navy honorably and received favorable job evaluations at the Border Patrol, a defense lawyer said, evidence that his client stands by his promises and would return for court appearances.

But the judge said Ortiz had rendered his government service a fraud by lying about his citizenship.

Jennings said agents discovered an "obviously counterfeit birth certificate" when they searched Ortiz's home in June.

In 2001, Ortiz, then a seaman aboard the Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, was arrested in San Ysidro with two illegal immigrants in the back of a car he was driving, the prosecutor said.

The two immigrants told authorities they each paid $200 to enter the United States, but no charges were filed.

That same year, Ortiz used an Illinois birth certificate to apply for the Border Patrol, agents said in a court filing. Investigators learned this year that a birth certificate with that same number had been issued to someone else.

Beginning last fall, Ortiz worked with a Mexican immigrant smuggling ring, meeting up with smugglers on the border, Jennings said.

"He would pick up the illegal aliens, put them in his Border Patrol vehicle and move them further into the United States," she said.

She said Ortiz did that about 10 times and was paid $1,000 to $1,500 per migrant.

This spring, he began working with a second smuggling ring, the prosecutor said, turning away as groups of 30 to 50 immigrants walked through the area he and another Border Patrol agent were supposed to be guarding.

Wiretaps indicate that in April, Ortiz called drug dealers to check for prices on narcotics, Jennings said.

She also said Ortiz has a violent streak.

In May, Jennings said, he threatened to lure an immigrant smuggler to a Tijuana bar where "some thugs" would beat him.

Ortiz has a 2-year-old daughter with his longtime girlfriend and was living with a cousin in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego when he was arrested, said his lawyer, Stephen White.

Ortiz attended Southwestern College in Chula Vista and applied for the Border Patrol while still in the Navy. He left the Navy in September 2002 and began studying at the Border Patrol academy the following month, White said.

The El Cajon-based agent was placed on administrative leave June 6, and was told to report to his superiors every day. He didn't.

White said Ortiz wasn't shirking his duty, but was making the most of a bad situation. "He took a vacation," White said outside court.

Ortiz and another Border Patrol agent were investigated after federal agents listening to wiretaps on an Encinitas-based drug ring heard them talking about immigrant smuggling, authorities said.

The other agent has not been charged in the case. Outside court, prosecutors said they couldn't answer questions about that agent.

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Former Border Patrol agent indicted on fraud, smuggling charges


SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES

6:24 p.m. August 18, 2005

SAN DIEGO – A federal grand jury Thursday indicted a former Border Patrol agent on charges of alien smuggling, making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and being an alien in possession of a firearm.
Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, was also charged with making a false statement in the acquisition of a firearm.

According to court documents, agents and officers of the North County Regional Gang Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security tapped the cellular phone conversations between Ortiz and his co-conspirators between April 15 and June 6.

Ortiz, a U.S. Border Patrol agent assigned to the El Cajon Border Patrol Station, was heard on many occasions arranging to smuggle illegal aliens with another Border Patrol agent through their area of operations near the U.S.- Mexican border east of the Tecate Port of Entry, authorities said.

Court documents also allege that Ortiz's Oct. 30, 2001, application for a position with the U.S. Border Patrol contains a false claim that he is a U.S. citizen, born in Chicago.

Ortiz submitted a copy of a birth certificate to the Department of Justice to support his claim of U.S. citizenship, authorities said.

However, a records check for the birth certificate revealed that it belongs to another person, authorities said.

Further records checks revealed that Ortiz was born in Mexico and is a Mexican citizen.

The indictment further alleges that Ortiz made a false representation that he was a U.S. citizen when he purchased a handgun from the El Cajon Gun Exchange March 21.

Ortiz is due back in court Sept. 23 for a motions hearing before U.S. District Judge John Houston.

At an earlier hearing, Magistrate Judge Anthony Battaglia ruled Ortiz was a flight risk and should be held without bail.