San Diego border cop arrested in drug-smuggling and human trafficking investigation: report

A San Diego-area Border Patrol officer has been charged with federal crimes, including allegedly attempting to move 23 pounds of methamphetamine and allowing an unauthorized immigrant through a border gate, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune on Thursday.

"Federal authorities arrested Agent Hector Hernandez, 55, on Wednesday morning in Chula Vista where he believed he’d be handing over the drugs in return for a $20,000 payment, according to court documents. Instead, his contact turned out to be an undercover agent from the Border Patrol’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security," reported Alex Riggins. "Hernandez was arraigned Thursday on one count of attempted distribution of controlled substances and two counts receiving a bribe as a public official. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf."

Per the criminal complaint, authorities began investigating Hernandez following an Inspector General report that indicated he may be “engaged in border corruption activities.”

"The undercover DHS agent spoke with Hernandez on Monday and set up a plan to pay the Border Patrol agent $5,000 if, during his shift that night, he opened a gate along the U.S.-Mexico border fence to allow an undocumented immigrant to pass through, according to the complaint and search warrant," said the report. "During one phone call that day, Hernandez allegedly asked the undercover investigator to send three undocumented people instead of just one so he could receive a higher payment, according to the court documents. Later that night, he allegedly drove his Border Patrol vehicle to the agreed upon location and opened the fence." In reality, nobody crossed the gate, but he was told someone had.

After this, the undercover agent set up a drug smuggling operation, where in reality most of the drugs Hernandez was transporting were fake and the duffel bag included a tracker. He was arrested when he took the drugs to the meeting point in Chula Vista.

Corrupt border patrol agents can undo years of work by the rest of the agency to keep the border safe and secure. Five years ago, another agent, Noe Lopez, was sentenced to prison after working for drug traffickers.