Trafficking in Narcotics—Customs Agents

Lizandro Martinez, a senior US Customs inspector has pleaded guilty to charges that he laundered money and conspired to smuggle drugs from Mexico.^[1] For more than two-and-a-half years, Mr. Martinez was paid to let trucks containing thousands of pounds of marijuana into the United States.^[2] Mr. Martinez’s associate, Roberto Dominguez, was also convicted for his role in the scheme.^[3]

Mr. Dominguez admitted that he had driven his vehicle—“the ‘lead’ vehicle”—through Mr. Martinez’s lane at least six times.^[4] Once he was in that lane, he would give a signal to the “load” vehicle to come through Mr. Martinez’s line.^[5] At that point, Mr. Martinez would temporarily disable the license plate reader, which meant there would be no record the vehicle had entered the country.^[6] Mr. Dominguez then paid a fee to Mr. Martinez for letting the vehicles into the country, which then made their way to a staging area where the marijuana was transferred to other vehicles.^[7]

In a separate case, former US Border Patrol agent Robert Espino was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a scheme to smuggle cocaine past a customs checkpoint.^[8]

Money Laundering
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1956, it is a crime for a person to transfer funds into the United States from a place outside the United States with the intent “to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity.”^[9] The specified unlawful activity in this case is trafficking in narcotics.^[10]

The punishment for violating this section is a fine at least $500,000, imprisonment for up to twenty years, or both.^[11]

Conspiracy to Traffic in Narcotics
Under 21 U.S.C. § 846, any person who conspires to commit any offense in title 21 will be punished as if he had committed the offense. There is no overt act requirement in this statute. Narcotics trafficking is a crime under 21 U.S.C. § 841, which states that it is a crime for a person to intentionally distribute—or possess with intent to distribute—a controlled substance.^[12]

The punishment for violating this statute with the amount of marijuana at issue in this case is imprisonment for at least 10 years, a fine of up to $4,000,000, or both.^[13]

---

[1] Inspector Convicted of Letting in Drugs, Associated Press, Oct. 4, 2005, available here [hereinafter AP].
[2] Id.
[3] US Attorney’s Office, Press Release: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Inspector Convicted of Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering, Oct. 4, 2005, available here.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] AP, supra note 1.
[9] 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A).
[10] Id. § 1956(c)(7)(A) (incorporating by reference the definition of an offense under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1)).
[11] Id. § 1956(a)(2).
[12] 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).
[13] Id. § 841(b)(1)(vii).