United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mario Bellamy, (ASAC) Las Cruces, announced today, a federal jury in El Paso found Lawrence Madrid guilty of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain, aiding and abetting alien smuggling for financial gain, and two substantive counts of accepting a bribe.
According to court records, from August 2010 to September 2011, 55-year-old Madrid, a former Supervisory Customs and Border Protection Officer, conspired to encourage/induce undocumented aliens to come to, enter, and reside in the United States without proper authorization. As his part of the conspiracy, Lawrence Madrid accepted money for using his official position to allow undocumented aliens to be smuggled through the ports of entry in El Paso. In addition, the federal jury found that on two separate occasions Madrid accepted money to allow an undocumented alien to enter the United States without proper authorization through the pedestrian lanes of a port of entry.
Madrid was immediately remanded to the custody of the U. S. Marshals and is set for sentencing on Aug. 16, 2016.
This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Las Cruces Office together with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Investigations. Assistant United States Attorneys Greg McDonald and Robert Almonte prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
