CNN —
A former U.S. border inspector was sentenced Friday to 23 years in prison for accepting bribes to allow vehicles loaded with people and drugs into the country, authorities said.
Witnesses at trial testified that Leonard Darnell George, 42, was arrested at the San Ysidro Border Crossing in San Diego, the busiest port of entry in the United States, in late 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said. He testified that he agreed to allow the vehicle to pass through his lane. In a news release. In February 2022, an alarm placed on a suspicious vehicle led to a search of one of the vehicles, resulting in the seizure of 222 pounds (100 kilograms) of methamphetamine.
Prosecutors said U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at the time then allowed another vehicle to enter the country with 200 pounds of drugs. Officers received $17,000 per vehicle and $68,000 after allowing four vehicles into a lane in June 2022, according to text messages.
A jury convicted him of bribery and other charges in June.
“CBP does not tolerate internal wrongdoing,” said Elizabeth Cervantes, special agent in charge of CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility in San Diego.
