Second CBP officer pleads guilty in drug-importation scheme

A San Diego-based U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer pleaded guilty Monday to federal drug importation charges for allowing vehicles containing drugs to pass through inspection lanes at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Diego Bonillo, 30, pleaded guilty to importing fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, as well as conspiring to import drugs, just as he was set to go to trial for letting drivers pass through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in drug-loaded vehicles.

Bonillo’s plea agreement states that as part of his role in the scheme, Bonillo “worked with a Mexican-based drug trafficking organization.”

Bonillo’s plea comes a few weeks after another San Diego-based CBP Officer, Jesse Clark Garcia, also pleaded guilty to multiple related charges. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said both men exchanged secretive, coded messages with members of the drug-trafficking organization in order to let them know what times they were working and which lanes they were assigned to.

Prosecutors said the payments the officers received as part of the drug trafficking scheme allowed them to live well above their means.

Court documents filed by prosecutors last year cited confidential sources alleging Garcia, 37, was paid “tens of thousands of dollars per vehicle he admitted into the United States.”

The documents referenced his co-ownership of a horse-racing stable, ownership of multiple vehicles, a home in San Diego, a planned ranch that was under construction in Mexico, and purchases of pricey Burberry apparel and items from Louis Vuitton.

Bonillo had taken multiple luxury vacations at home and abroad and was arrested in Las Vegas last year while having tickets to a high-profile boxing match, prosecutors said.

Both men are slated to be sentenced later this year.