Alex Pena reportedly received $30,000 for his role in a failed marijuana smuggling operation.
Alex Pena, a former Arizona Border Patrol agent, smuggled drugs for Mexican drug cartels to pay for debts from a “significant gambling problem”. That is the finding of a U.S. District Court, which found Alex Pena guilty and sentenced him to 20 months in federal prison this month.
The 37-year old former Border Patrol agent admitted in a plea bargain on February 22, 2018 that he stole a Border Patrol truck in August 2016 and drove it to a remote area south of Patagonia. Once there, he planned to help Mexican cartel members smuggle a load of marijuana into the United States.
Alex Pena faced a list of felony charges prior to the plea bargain, including conspiracy charges and grand larceny. Prosecutors dropped the most serious of those crimes due to the plea. Given his status as a first time offender, the US District judge in the case gave Pena a 20-month sentence.
“Significant Gambling Problem”
In the sentencing memorandum, Pena’s defense attorney Christopher Scileppi wrote that Pena has a “significant gambling problem”. Scileppi noted that Pena’s pay had been cut 25% after a funding cut to the Border Patrol agency, ICE, which “caused a financial struggle”.
With spiraling debt from and fewer resources to cover those debts, Alex Pena “could not see an exit”. Some gambling addicts in the past have chosen suicide, but some with mounting debts and a position of authority either embezzle funds or otherwise turn to criminal behavior.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General conducted a probe of Alex Pena’s finances which showed suspicious activity dating back to 2013. Pena regularly deposited cash in his bank account which was not from his Border Patrol salary. The cash presumably would have been from Pena’s occasional gambling winnings.
Suspicious $30,000 Deposit
In 2016, bank records show that Alex Pena made a $30,000 deposit in his bank account. That discovery led to the DHS’s Inspector General’s Office to sign an affadavit to search Pena’s phone record. When DHS got control of Pena’s phone in February 2017, it showed an elaborate plot to smuggle marijuana across the US-Mexico border.
The plan began to unravel long before that. On August 2, 2016, Sonoita station Border Patrol agents noticed a sensor had tripped about 8 miles north of the border. When the agents investigated, they found Pena’s Border Patrol truck at an intersection of Forest Road 58 and Hale Ranch Road.
Pena Noticed by Border Patrol Agents
Pena told his fellow officers that he was from the Nogales Station and was looking for a spot to park his truck so he could sleep for a few hours. Pena’s backstory included a planned meeting to plant a surveillance device on Red Mountain. The story was normal operating procedure, so the other officers were not alarmed.
Then Alex Pena made a mistake: he apologized for tripping the Sonoita sensors. This told the other officer that Pena was monitoring the Senoita station’s radio traffic, which was suspicious. Tuscon.com reported that the agent decided to investigate further after Pena drove away.
Rendevous with Drug Smugglers
The Sonoita agent decided to follow Pena’s truck tracks, which led back to the rendevous point with the smugglers. Sonoita agents said they, “Found footprints of four to six people, greasy hamburger wrappers, soda cans, and a camouflage canteen, all of which were indicators of “load-out” sites where drug smugglers wait to transfer loads to drivers, according to the affidavit. The footprints led agents south toward Mexico.”
Further investigation showed that Alex Pena went through a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19 at around 3:30am that morning. Phone records showed he also made numerous phone calls that night to another number. He had made calls to that phone number for approximately a year prior to the event. That same number had been used to call someone in the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2013.
Border Patrol Investigation
When the alarm went out at the Nogales Station, agents found the truck Alex Pena used in a side parking lot. The engine was still warm, while the truck had mud covering “its tires, running boards, and the floor mats”.
The agent who previously used the truck claimed he had left the truck clean.
After Alex Pena was first arrested, Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodolfo Karisch said that agents engaged in corruption and criminal behavior undermines the work of the Border Patrol. Karisch said, “Any arrest of an employee undermines that hard work and dedication.”
