Robert Hall, Bribery, Texas 2018
A former US Customs and Border Protection agent was sentenced to 112 months in prison for accepting bribes to facilitate the trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States.
According to the plea documents, between 2004 and 2014, Robert Hall, 45, of La Feria, Texas, facilitated the trafficking of illegal drugs, including marijuana, into the United States from Mexico on behalf of a drug trafficking organization.
In exchange for cash payments, he provided an individual in the DTO with CBP sensor locations, the locations of unpatrolled roads at or near the U.S.-Mexico border, the number of BPAs working in a certain area, keys to unlock CBP locks located on gates to ranch fences along the border and CBP radios.
Hall accepted over $50,000 in cash from the DTO in exchange for using his position as a BPA to enable the DTO's drug shipments to cross the border into Texas without law enforcement detection.
Hall pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on Sept. 14, 2018, and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. of the Southern District of Texas, who also ordered Hall to pay a fine in the amount of $20,000.
The FBI investigated the case with the assistance of CBP OPR. Trial Attorneys Rebecca Moses and Peter M. Nothstein of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie N. Searle of the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
Daniel Hernandez, 46, of Roseville, California, also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to bribe a public official before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy K. Johnson in the Southern District of Texas. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 9, before U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller, who accepted the plea on Feb. 8.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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