TEXAS
A former U.S. Border Patrol Agent was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison for accepting bribes in return for helping to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States, according to officials.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr., of Texas, sentenced Robert Hall, 45, of La Feria, Texas, officials said.
The judge also ordered Hall to pay a fine in the amount of $20,000. Hall pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on Sept. 14, 2018, which was unsealed last week.
According to the plea documents, between 2004 and 2014, Hall, working with others including Daniel Hernandez, 46, of Roseville, California, 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 drug cartel with CBP sensor locations, the locations of unpatrolled roads at or near the U.S.-Mexico border, the number of Border Patrol agents working in a certain area, keys to unlock locks located on gates to ranch fences along the border and Border Patrol radios.
In total, Hall accepted over $50,000 in cash from the drug dealers in exchange for using his position as a Border Patrol agent to enable drug shipments to cross the border into Texas without law enforcement detection, officials said.
Hernandez pleaded guilty Feb. 5 to one count of conspiracy to bribe a public official.
Sentencing has been scheduled for May 9, according to authorities.