Agents admit to accepting bribes from smugglers

McALLEN — Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents have pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges, prosecutors said Friday.

Cousins Salomon Ruiz, 34, and Leonel Morales, 30, admitted in separate hearings to accepting more than $23,000 from drug traffickers to help guide cocaine loads into the country.

Ruiz, an agent stationed in McAllen, entered his plea at a hearing Friday, the U.S. attorney's office said.

According to court filings, he took $14,000 over a two-year period to distract authorities while smugglers brought 25 kilograms of cocaine across the Rio Grande near La Casita, a small community east of Rio Grande City.

Ruiz admitted in a taped confession to monitoring radio traffic and activating Border Patrol sensors to ensure no other agents would enter the area.

At some point, he also introduced the smuggler he worked with to his cousin, Morales, a Border Patrol agent stationed in Zapata County.

Federal agents arrested Morales last month after investigators caught him negotiating how he would escort a 20-kilogram cocaine load through the county in exchange for $9,000. He pleaded guilty to bribery charges Jan. 6.

Attorneys for both men did not return calls for comment Friday.

They face up to 15 years in a federal prison at separate sentencing hearings set for this spring.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.