A former US border official who took bribes to admit drug-laden vehicles gets a 23-year sentence

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A former U.S. border inspector was sentenced Friday to 23 years in prison for taking bribes to allow people and drug-laden vehicles to enter the country, authorities said.

Witnesses testified at trial that Leonard Darnell George, 42, agreed to allow the vehicles through his lane in late 2021 at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego, the nation’s busiest port of entry, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of California said in a news release. In February 2022, an alert placed on a suspect vehicle forced one of those vehicles to be searched, resulting in the seizure of 222 pounds (100 kilograms) of methamphetamine.

The then-U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer later allowed another vehicle to enter the country with 200 pounds (91 kilograms) of drugs, prosecutors said. Text messages show the officer received $17,000 per vehicle and got $68,000 after he allowed four vehicles to enter his lane in June 2022.

A jury convicted him of receiving bribes and other charges in June.

“CBP does not tolerate misconduct within its ranks,” said Elizabeth Cervantes, special agent in charge of the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility in San Diego.