By JACQUELINE ARMENDARIZ/ The Brownsville Herald
A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent from Brownsville was sentenced to 17 years in prision today for drug trafficking, human smuggling and bribery charges, authorities announced.
Luis Enrique Ramirez, 39, pleaded guilty in March that he was a member of a drug trafficking organization from November 2007 to January 2009 and was sentenced today to 204 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno said in a press release.
Authorities said he let cocaine pass through a primary inspection lane he was manning, conspired with others to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the United States for money and accepted bribes.
The sentences for his crimes are to run concurrently, the release said. According to the release, Ramirez received the statutory maximum 120 months for each of the two counts of alien smuggling counts, the statutory maximum of 180 months for the bribery conviction, as well as 204 months for drug smuggling.
Following his prison term he will serve 10 years of supervised release, authorities said.
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen also entered a money judgment in the amount of $500,000 against Ramirez, a sum representing the proceeds of his criminal activity, the release said.
Court records reflect that Ramirez received at least $800,000 in bribes.
Authorities said factors in Ramirez’s sentencing were his recruitment of other individuals, his position as a high level public official, his acceptance of multiple bribes totaling more than $5,000 in bribes and his use of his position as a public official to facilitate the illegal entry persons and narcotics into United States.
Ramirez was arrested Oct. 30, 2010, after he tried to leave Matamoros and enter Brownsville. He was on the run for more than a year, disappearing months before he was named in a federal indictment dated April 14, 2009.
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Luis Enrique Ramirez, 39, pleaded guilty in March that he was a member of a drug trafficking organization from November 2007 to January 2009 and was sentenced today to 204 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno said in a press release.
Authorities said he let cocaine pass through a primary inspection lane he was manning, conspired with others to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the United States for money and accepted bribes.
The sentences for his crimes are to run concurrently, the release said. According to the release, Ramirez received the statutory maximum 120 months for each of the two counts of alien smuggling counts, the statutory maximum of 180 months for the bribery conviction, as well as 204 months for drug smuggling.
Following his prison term he will serve 10 years of supervised release, authorities said.
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen also entered a money judgment in the amount of $500,000 against Ramirez, a sum representing the proceeds of his criminal activity, the release said.
Court records reflect that Ramirez received at least $800,000 in bribes.
Authorities said factors in Ramirez’s sentencing were his recruitment of other individuals, his position as a high level public official, his acceptance of multiple bribes totaling more than $5,000 in bribes and his use of his position as a public official to facilitate the illegal entry persons and narcotics into United States.
Ramirez was arrested Oct. 30, 2010, after he tried to leave Matamoros and enter Brownsville. He was on the run for more than a year, disappearing months before he was named in a federal indictment dated April 14, 2009.
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