Just weeks before he was set to go on trial, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer admitted that he conspired with Mexican drug traffickers to allow fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine to pass unchecked through his inspection lanes at the Tecate Port of Entry.
Jesse Clark Garcia pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego federal court to nine counts related to the importation of drugs. He admitted in his plea agreement that he and another former CBP officer, Diego Bonillo, conspired with an unnamed Mexican drug-trafficking organization to look the other way while vehicles loaded with narcotics moved through their inspection lanes.
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Bonillo has pleaded not guilty to similar charges and remains set to go on trial at the end of the month.
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Garcia faces 10 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced, and a potential fine of up to $10 million. His attorney declined to comment on his guilty plea Wednesday.
Prosecutors alleged that Garcia and Bonillo “profited handsomely” from the criminal conspiracy, earning tens of thousands of dollars for each drug-laden vehicle they ushered into the U.S. without scrutiny. The indictment alleged the two men combined allowed more than 1,150 pounds of drugs into the U.S. on five occasions between April 2021 and February 2024, though that total only accounted for the drugs that authorities later seized.
Court documents filed by prosecutors last year stated Garcia “lives well-above his CBP salary” and referenced his co-ownership of a horse-racing stable, ownership of multiple vehicles, a home in San Diego, a planned ranch that was under construction in Mexico, and purchases of pricey items from luxury brands Burberry and Louis Vuitton.
Both Garcia and Bonillo were arrested in May 2024 as the result of an investigation led by the FBI San Diego field office’s Border Corruption Task Force.
According to the indictment and other court records, investigators believed Garcia’s criminal activity began as early as April 2021. A later investigation uncovered patterns of suspected drug smugglers who typically only crossed the Tecate Port of Entry when Garcia was working and only crossed through his lane. Prosecutors alleged that some of those same vehicles or drivers also regularly passed through Bonilla’s lane at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
Prosecutors alleged that near the end of the corruption investigation last year, Garcia crossed the border into Mexico with a fully packed vehicle and stopped showing up for work. He only returned to the U.S. after Mexican authorities arrested him and handed him over to U.S. law enforcement at the Arizona border. FBI agents arrested Bonillo a few days later in Las Vegas, where prosecutors allege he was staying at a pricey hotel and had $2,000 tickets to a high-profile boxing match.
“We do not tolerate misconduct within our ranks,” a CBP spokesperson said last year in response to questions about the officers. “When we discover any alleged or potential misconduct, we immediately refer it for investigation and cooperate fully with any criminal or administrative investigations.”
Garcia and Bonillo were arrested one month before their former colleague, Leonard Darnell George, went on trial in a similar but unrelated case. George was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of allowing drugs and undocumented migrants through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Former CBP officers Farlis Almonte, Ricardo Rodriguez and Kairy Quinonez are facing charges that they allowed undocumented immigrants through their inspection lanes in San Ysidro in exchange for bribes. They have each pleaded not guilty to those charges.
City News Service contributed to this report.