Web Posted: 12/26/2009 12:00 CST
Thieves can't steal ex-Border Patrol agent's holiday
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Ignacio Ramos: He was sentenced in 2006 for shooting a drug smuggler.



By Craig Kapitan

Last Christmas, Ignacio Ramos was in a cramped cell at a federal penitentiary in Arizona, listening to Christmas songs on a small radio and wondering what his wife and children were doing.

A lot has changed in a year for the former Border Patrol agent, who became a cause célebre among conservative lawmakers after jurors handed him an 11-year sentence in 2006 for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso.

In January, George W. Bush commuted his sentence during his last full day in office.

Ramos then moved his family from El Paso to Houston, where he began the process of starting over with a job at an oil company there.

This Christmas no doubt was going to be the best one in years for Ramos, but an overnight stay at a hotel in Boerne earlier this week nearly derailed it.

Thieves broke into his SUV, cleaning out an estimated $3,000 worth of gifts for his wife and four children that he’d been scrimping and saving for over the past few months.

“We understand this Christmas was more than just the gifts,â€