(NewsNation) — A former Customs and Border Protection officer has been convicted of letting undocumented people illegally cross over the U.S. border and for allowing what he believed was cocaine into the country, according to officials.
Emanuel Isac Celedon, 36, was assigned to guard the Juarez-Lincoln Port of Entry in Laredo on the U.S.-Mexico border. On at least nine occasions from September to November 2023, he illegally let in several undocumented individuals, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Celadon admitted to providing his daily lane assignment to human smugglers so they could enter the country without inspection or documentation of passengers.
At least two times, Celadon falsely input information into a CBP database to avoid sending the driver to mandatory secondary inspection, officials said.
The former officer also asked conspirators to relay information to Mexican smugglers in an attempt to reassure them he was “doing his part to facilitate the organization’s human smuggling efforts,” according to officials.
Celdone was found with $1,980 in cash proceeds from human smuggling and worked with cartels that were trying to get cocaine over the border in exchange for payment.
In an undercover investigation, the former officer let through what he thought was cocaine, but was actually “sham cocaine” from Mexico through his duty lane on two occasions in October 2023.
Celedon was paid a total of $6,000 after the vehicles with sham cocaine safely crossed the border.
He pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of bringing an undocumented alien to the U.S. in one criminal case and to counts of bribery and attempted importation of a controlled substance in the second, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Celedon faces up to 10 years on two counts and 15 years on the other two counts in the smuggling case, as well as an additional 15 years for the bribery and 40 years for the drug charges.