FLORIDA
A federal judge sentenced a Colombian Cali Cartel cocaine trafficker to two years and three months in prison for bribing a former special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, according to officials.
The bribe was made to dismiss a drug trafficking indictment against the trafficker, officials said.
According to the plea agreement, Jose Bayron Piedrahita-Ceballos, 60, of Medellin, Colombia, offered and gave things of value to Christopher Ciccione II, 54, a former federal law enforcement agent, according to officials.
In exchange for Ciccione using his official position to cause a drug trafficking indictment against Piedrahita-Ceballos to be dismissed and to obtain official authorization for Piedrahita-Ceballos to enter the United States.
At the time of the dismissal, Ciccione was the case agent for Operation Cornerstone, a large-scale Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case that resulted in indictments of over 100 Colombia-based cocaine traffickers from the Cali Cartel.
“ICE takes responsibility in ensuring its employees have the trust of the American public,” said Special Agent in Charge Southeast Michael T. Moreland of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). “To erode that trust, Mr. Piedrahita sought to use an employee for his personal gain and his sentence today conveys to other bad actors that ICE will not tolerate the exploitation of its employees or the American justice system.”
Piedrahita-Ceballos, an Operation Cornerstone defendant, and Colombian national Juan Carlos Velasco, 51, gave Ciccione approximately $20,000 in cash, dinner, drinks and prostitution during an extended hotel stay in Bogota, Colombia, in exchange for official acts that resulted in the dismissal of the indictment against Piedrahita-Ceballos.
Velasco served as the intermediary between Ciccione and Piedrahita-Ceballos. Velasco and Ciccione have previously pleaded guilty for their conduct in this matter.
On Feb. 9, 2018, Ciccione was sentenced to three years in prison. On Jan. 19, 2018, Velasco was sentenced to two years to three months in prison, according to officials.
In furtherance of this scheme to obstruct justice, Ciccione misled the U.S. Attorney’s Office, HSI management, and altered TECS records to secure the dismissal.
Ciccone also falsified the concurrence of several other federal agents and attempted to obtain entry for Piedrahita-Ceballos into the United States.