Ex-Arizona Border Patrol agent sentenced for drugs, bribery

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A former U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona has been sentenced to more than a dozen years in prison for trafficking drugs and taking bribes on the job.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona in Tucson said in a news release that 36-year-old Ramon Antonio Monreal-Rodriguez was sentenced earlier this month.

A federal judge during a Dec. 14 hearing ordered Monreal-Rodriguez, of Vail, to serve 152 months. He must also pay $151,000 to his former employer to cover the salary earned while involved in criminal activity.

Monreal-Rodriguez has agreed to plead guilty to a slew of charges. They include bribery, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to provide firearms to a convicted felon.

Prosecutors say he was involved in three different conspiracies in two federal criminal cases.

Monreal-Rodriguez illegally bought firearms from federally licensed firearms dealers for others between July and August of 2018. He also offered firearms to known felons, according to authorities.

He also collaborated with a drug trafficking organization between January and September of 2018 to smuggle narcotics across the border. He was accused of using his work vehicle to transport the drugs across the border.

Prosecutors say he received more than $1 million from the narcotics sales.