Feds: Border Patrol agent guided drugs for bribe

McALLEN - A U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested this week on charges he took $14,000 to guide a drug load into the United States.

A federal grand jury indicted Salomon Ruiz, 34, of McAllen, on four counts including conspiracy, bribery and drug trafficking in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

He is at least the fifth local Border Patrol agent to face criminal prosecution this year.

"Border Patrol agents are entrusted with tremendous authority and the enormous responsibility of securing our nation's borders," Ronald D. Vitiello, chief of the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector, said in a written statement. "(Agents) who violate the trust of the citizens they swore to protect will be held accountable."

Prosecutors allege Ruiz accepted a bribe between June 7 and Sept. 11 to guide more than 11 pounds of cocaine across the Rio Grande.

The agent remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday pending a detention hearing next week. It was not clear whether he had retained an attorney.

Ruiz's arrest came the same day as that of a Zapata County-based agent accused of accepting $9,000 in bribes in similar activity.

Leonel Morales, 30, also faces drug trafficking, conspiracy and bribery charges in the three-count indictment filed in his case.

In September, McAllen-based agent Reynaldo Zuniga pleaded guilty to picking up drug smugglers in his official vehicle and guiding them through areas heavily trafficked by Border Patrol.

Other agents have confessed to assaulting and threatening the lives of illegal immigrants in their custody and stealing seized drug loads in separate cases this year.

Local Border Patrol spokesman John Lopez declined to comment specifically on Ruiz's status Thursday but said it is common practice to suspend employees accused of criminal wrongdoing pending the outcome of their trials.

If convicted on all counts, Ruiz could face up to life in prison and more than $4 million in fines.

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