Former CBP officer sentenced for bribery

May 05, 2010 7:00 PM
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ, The Brownsville Herald

A former U.S Customs and Border Protection officer has been sentenced to more than one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to bribery charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Office reports Javier Cavazos, 50, of Los Fresnos, appeared in court today before a federal judge where he was sentenced to 19 months in a federal prison. In January, Cavazos pleaded guilty to the charge.

According to the plea agreement, Cavazos, while employed with CBP, accepted money from co-defendant David De La Fuente in exchange for providing admission stamps on a passport and form I-94W to a man who had not properly presented himself for admission into the United States. The man was previously deported.

Court documents revealed that Cavazos was accused of accepting $4,800 in cash in exchange for letting French national Brian Altan enter the United States illegally.

According to the documents, part of the violation occurred at Cavazos’ home, where he stamped Altan’s passport and a blank I-94 form that could be used to enter the U.S.

Court records also show an exchange of telephone calls between Cavazos and his alleged accomplice, De la Fuente, 22, of San Benito.

Cavazos was arrested Sept. 29 in Reno, Nevada. At the time of the allegations, Cavazos was employed with CBP and had been with the federal agency for 16 years.

De la Fuente was also arrested on Sept. 29 at his San Benito residence. He is charged with alien smuggling and bribery of a public official.

Cavazos remains out on bond. He will be allowed to voluntarily surrender to a Bureau of Prison facility in the near future.

De La Fuente also pleaded gulty to the crime in January. He will be sentenced on June 3.


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