Border agent’s dad gets 6½ years in prison

Written by Greg Moran
2:04 p.m., Nov. 4, 2011

SAN DIEGO — A 47-year-old man who was in the country illegally and was caught living with his son, a U.S. Border Patrol agent, was sentenced Friday to 6½ years in federal prison.

Marcos Manzano Sr. had pleaded guilty in July to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and being in the country illegally after previously being deported. Until January, he was living in a home on Shooting Star Drive in south San Diego with his son, Marcos Manzano Jr., and other family members.

Federal agents raided the house on Jan. 10, hours after arresting the younger Manzano as he reported to work at the Border Patrol station in Imperial Beach. Manzano’s father escaped the raid by jumping out a back window of the house, but he turned himself in several weeks later.

The elder Manzano was deported in 2008 after being convicted of drug charges in state court. At the time, he was a legal permanent resident of the United States after having come here as a child with his parents. The drug conviction, however, resulted in his deportation.

Sometime in 2009, he returned to the U.S. Federal agents spotted him at his son’s home in September of that year and saw the younger Manzano living there. The title to the home was in the son’s name.

Paul Blake, the father’s lawyer, acknowledged his client has a drug problem but asked for a sentence of four years. He said he has support from family and has had a good work record in the construction trades.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko said a longer sentence was needed because Manzano had a criminal history that included four previous felony convictions.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller agreed, saying that Manzano is a longtime methamphetamine user and seller who was selling the drug out of his son’s home. Miller said the father’s drug addiction was not an excuse.

“Being addicted is one thing,â€