ICE Officer Arrested in Marijuana Smuggling Ring
- Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:31pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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(TheBlaze/AP) A deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led Arizona state police and federal agents on a high-speed desert chase in his government vehicle, throwing bundles of marijuana out of the window as he fled, the Department of Public Safety said Wednesday.
The deportation officer, identified as Jason Alistair Lowery, 34, had been under surveillance for more than month after a known smuggler who had been arrested gave authorities a tip about the officer in an effort to get lenient treatment, Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook told The Associated Press.
Lowery, who lives in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, does not yet have an attorney. FOX 10 on the chase and arrest:
DPS and federal agents tried to pull Lowery over Tuesday after he picked up a load of marijuana in the desert with his unmarked ICE pickup truck, Cook said. The officer fled, leading agents on a 45-minute chase at speeds of up to 110 mph as he threw 10 of the 14 bundles of pot that he had in the truck out of the window, he said.
“He got pretty desperate,” Cook said.
The chase began in the Vekol Valley about 45 miles south of Phoenix and ended just south of Sacaton, about 20 miles as the crow flies northwest from where the chase began. It ended when Lowery’s truck rolled over and he gave himself up.
Mexican drug cartels have infiltrated federal law enforcement agencies along the border for years, targeting hiring initiatives with their own people or recruiting officers.
Between 2003 and early 2010, 129 U.S. customs officers and Border Patrol agents were arrested on corruption charges, according to Tom Frost, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant inspector general for investigations. The office was not immediately able to provide an updated figured to the AP.
“This is becoming all too common, in my opinion,” said Jim Dorcy, a retired Border Patrol agent who later investigated corruption among agents for the Justice Department. “Statistically it’s pretty rare, but you have to understand that as a law enforcement agency, it should be approaching zero.”
He said any amount of corruption in a police agency, let alone dozens of cases, destroys the public‘s confidence and criminals’ respect. The heart of the problem lies in recent hiring booms in ICE and the Border Patrol, adding that the bar is lowered to meet hiring quotas, Dorcy said.
As for the corruption cases he investigated, Dorcy said it usually came down greed.
“They just want to make more money than the job offers, and they get offered a very tempting amount of money,” he said.
In one notable case, former Customs officer Margarita Crispin was arrested in El Paso, Texas, in 2007 and sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import more than 1,000 kilograms (2,204 pounds) of marijuana. Prosecutors alleged that she accepted more than $5 million in bribes over several years in exchange for letting smugglers’ vehicles pass through her checkpoint without inspection.
In a more recent case, former Border Patrol agent Michael Angelo Atondo was found guilty of trafficking marijuana in southwestern Arizona after fellow Border Patrol agents found him in a remote area along the border near San Luis – several miles outside of his patrol zone – with 745 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle.
Prosecutors say Atondo appeared to be a mole who infiltrated the agency to smuggle drugs. The 34-year-old will be sentenced Jan. 9.
In Lowery’s case, DPS believes that he was taking the 500 pounds of marijuana that he picked up in the desert to a man working for a drug cartel whose house served as the nexus of the drug distribution.
Lowery was booked into Pinal County jail on charges of smuggling and felony flight and was turned over to ICE custody Wednesday morning. The sheriff’s office also booked the man who was to receive the marijuana, identified as 33-year-old Joshua Duane Powell of Arizona City.
At Powell’s home, police found 14 rifles and guns in the trunk of his car, seven of which had been reported stolen, according to a DPS document.
The document also said that Powell had been out on a $25,000 bond stemming from a separate investigation last month in which multiple bulletproof vests, weapons, stolen night-vision equipment, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and various drugs were found in his home.
“Since his release only a few weeks ago, (Powell) has amassed a small arsenal of weapons and has proven to continue involvement in the illicit drug trade,” the document said.
Powell does not yet have an attorney and he has declined interview requests from the news media.
ICE spokesman Vinnie Picard declined to say how long that Lowery had worked for the agency or other details about him or the case.
“ICE is cooperating with federal and state authorities in this matter,” Picard said in a statement. “We hold our officers and agents to the highest levels of responsibility and are committed to supporting the agencies investigating this incident.”
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Comments (57)
betsp
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:04pmI hope he gets life.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:39pmI’m sure to see more work on ICE BI checks.
Report Post »ACLUHater
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 3:38pmThis is what happens when gov’t agencies are forced to hire based on diversity.
Report Post »proudinfidel54
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 4:28pm“Book em Danno”!
Report Post »GodWillPrevail
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 7:48pmSomeone mailed a 2.2 lb brick of marijuana to my house under a different name. I gave it to the cops who weighed it when logged in at 10 oz. I sure wondered if the cops enjoyed or sold the other 22 ounces.
Report Post »JustJerry
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 11:04amOn a site founded by an American that preaches that we should learn from our own history one would think that alcohol prohibition would have taught us a lesson.
You have a demand for a product, laws prohibit there sale, a black market is created. This black market instills a mafia style rule. Shocking right?
Some aspects of the black market are actually rather cool tho. Many people buy in a large enough quantity so they can sell what they don’t smoke for an amount to cover their own costs. In the end, only the last guy in the chain actually pays for drugs. Everybody else smokes for free. If your not doing it this way your doing it wrong.
I have been sober for years. It was my choice. If I choose to smoke again it will be my choice. Allowing the government to be the pointer on your moral compass is Un-American. Using the government to force people into an unsafe black market is also Un-American.
Report Post »Drakkhanlord
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 1:07pmI grow my own and do not sell to anyone…
it is the best arthritis and pain medicine out there …
and no you dont have to smoke it …Can eat it or condense it and use the oil to CURE any skin cancer.
It has been proven to CURE many cancers …Search for yourselves
Report Post »Drakkhanlord
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 1:08pmsorry did not mean to reply …enjoyed your post tho.
Report Post »JustJerry
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 2:10pmLol, yeah. The reply system on here could be better.
Everyone is saying this is the time to be prepared for the worst. Growing your own pot is one way to do that.
Report Post »JediPatriot
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 10:26amIf our government is involved with it, you can guarantee that it has been corrupted. Everything they touch becomes twisted. Look what they’ve done to our Constitution. That alone should tell you everything you need to know about these criminals.
Report Post »Peace
Leon Harris
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 9:44amWhen will people realize the prohibtion of drugs is the same thing as alcohol prohibition? If deadliness is the excuse, alcohol kills more people every year than all drugs combined.
Report Post »rabblechat
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 9:27amIf he wanted to double as a drug smuggler he should of applied with the CIA not ICE…
Report Post »JediPatriot
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 10:24am@ rabblechat – Dead on. The CIA has been smuggling drugs into the US for years. Pilots and Ex-CIA officers have admitted as much.
Report Post »Peace
hempstead1944
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 8:58amTake the bribe or take the bullet……not much of a choice.
Report Post »Tickdog
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 7:16amwell DUH!
Report Post »USAF2003
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 7:59amI wonder how many of the 129 “agents” that have been arrested for working with the other side are minorities? And NO I’m not racist, just saying that affirmative action (which is occuring) leads to lower standards of the hiring process. That’s a FACT.
Report Post »poster
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 6:51amNothing to see here — just a “youth” who made a mistake…. move along.
Report Post »raderby
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 6:29amnah – Mexican cartels don’t have any bought people here. ……How ’bout this? Signs facing Mexico all along the border: “Do not trespass – violators WILL be shot.” The do not tread on me flag would a nice touch. And then? Shoot anyone who violates the border. Problem reduces quite fast.
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 10:48amThe sign should read: Do not trespass – Violators WILL be shot – Survivors will be shot again
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 5:23amFollow the money. The temptation is so great when you see how the drug dealers live. Know of one case back in the 80′s where the Border Patrol officers would make a bust, only turn in part of it. The next day of they took their girl friends a couple of hundred pounds to Las Vegas where they had a buyer. Only got caught because one of them decided to build a house that he could not possibly afford on his BP salary.
OMG
Report Post »Cosmos102
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 1:17amOf course…Illegal brings in illegal drugs, which are illegally stolen by our own law enforcement to be sold illegally. It’s called the Liberal style of “Capitalism”.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:32amThe War on Drugs has been, still is and WILL ALWAYS BE A FAILURE. Let’s cut the Puritanical BS and decriminalize, not legalize, ALL DRUGS. People want them, just like they want beer, wine and hard liquor. No amount of murders, arrests or interdiction will change that. What a waste of money and manpower to continue this STUPIDITY. Just think, drugs could be taxed, the cartels and their murderous activity would stop and the legal costs of courts and jails over drug offenses could finally end. The money saved, part of it anyway, can then be used for ads against drug use like they now do for tobacco.
Report Post »Rev.sLeezy
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:32amHoly Smokes. This just go’s to show how the prohibition of marijuana has corrupted our people. The only way to get out of this war is to end it. Mr. O. we need to have that serious conversation now on how to get out of this poor situation we now find ourselves facing. Here’s one way. The CMA has just recommended the end of the prohibition. Take the que from the medical communitty and take the action to remove cannabis from schedule I and allow states to make their own policy concerning marijuana. Blessings.
Report Post »Cosmos102
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 1:21amPot causes harm to the central nervous system, not to mention to the lungs. But it will kill you before the lung cancer is ever diagnosed! This is the worst trick EVER played on American citizens. Pot is not a toy. Alcohol is bad enough, but multiply that by 1000 before you even think about the harm pot will cause.
Report Post »JustJerry
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 10:15am@Cosmos102
The hypocrisy of conservatism, freedom and justice for some.
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 11:00amCOSMOS- A person should have the right to act “stupidly” (thanks Barry), without intervntion by the federal government. Shouldn’t prohibition be lest up to the states and counties?
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 11:11amLeft up to…
Report Post »Rev.sLeezy
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 10:53pmHoly Smokes. Really? Where’s your scientific evidence to prove your statement. I cannot find the report. My experience, and millions of others do not appear to be falling over dead from the inhaled smoke of maruijuana. You must be drinking the Kool-Aid (Beer, Wine, or Liquor) killing yourself slowly with alcohol. Cheers. See you in Hell. Blessings, and go in peace.
Report Post »mikenleeds
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:57pmthis is why the boarder agents needs to be replaced with the national guard ..
they clearly can t be trusted and most are on the take
Report Post »KidCharlemagne
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:36pm“This is becoming all too common, in my opinion,” said Jim Dorcy, a retired Border Patrol agent who later investigated corruption among agents for the Justice Department. “Statistically it’s pretty rare, but you have to understand that as a law enforcement agency, it should be approaching zero.”
=========================================================
We have seen this movie before:
“Foreseeing future corruption in the law enforcement agencies as a result of the Volstead Act, future New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia commented that, “it would take a police force of 250,000 to enforce the Prohibition Act and another 200,000 to police the police.”
Al Capone paid off the cops to act as his enforcers during the Prohibition Era, so why wouldn’t we expect the cartels to pay off the cops in the War on Drugs too?
Report Post »Rajabear1
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:35pmGood. I’m glad they caught him. Throw the book at him and then throw his rear in jail and throw the key away(or over the boarder–whatever). It’s bad enough that the cartels are now reaching far over the boarder and the fear, death and destruction they perpetuate is horrific. It’s bad enough our boarders are wide open for not only Mexican nationals to flow in, but every willed terrorist walk on over, too. But to have someone who is supposed to understand the dangers that these criminals pose to our state and nation be in cahoots with them is not only criminal, but sinister. It’s bad enough that DC uses this as their power leverage, but the guys we trust on the ground to betray us is disgusting. Not the first time we seen it here. Still a blow the sense each time it happens.
Report Post »Sorocialism
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:13pm“about 20 miles as the crow flies ”
LOL
Report Post »Fella
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:57pmJust another day in the failed drug war here in AZ. I guess we just need to spend billions more on the prohibition of a plant. I’m sure if we just raise taxes and lock more people up we will finally see some progress. Whos with me!?!?!
Report Post »sandy21957
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:42pmWas he originally from Arizona or a corrupt cop from NOLA?
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:22pmSo, TOTUS gets a new bunker on the White House and we can’t have a fence?
Report Post »Mexicans need to be DEMANDING a fence!
A SECURE border will destroy the drug cartels overnight, upon completion.
By cutting the supply route, the demand is removed from the supply. The supply dries up!
Even drug gangs are not doing it as a public service! They are doing it FOR PROFIT!
Seal the borders, you have no drug cartels = no THOUSANDS OF MURDERS of Mexicans!
InfiniteSolutions
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:36pmHow come an investigation can turn up this corrupt official but we can‘t figure out who’s responsible for the Fast and Furious Blunder. Well, we really know the answer to that. It’s called the corrupt office of Obama and Holdner. When our own government runs amock with the power bestowed to them we should all stand up and oust these imposters, they all wear mask. Why are we tolerating this behavior, we need to start an impeachment campaign. I know, Occupy Washington and demand our representatives step down, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, back at you!
Report Post »KidCharlemagne
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 11:50pmTomFerrari
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:22pm
Seal the borders, you have no drug cartels = no THOUSANDS OF MURDERS of Mexicans!
===================================
False:
“Cocaine Highways: Post-NAFTA, Most Drugs Cross U.S. Borders in Trucks
By RICHARD ESPOSITO, ASA ESLOCKER, and BRIAN ROSS
April 16, 2009
Most of the drug shipments smuggled into the United States by the Mexican cartels are hidden in trucks that drive across U.S. border checkpoints in plain sight, with little fear of inspection, U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7354412&page=1
If you tried to inspect every vehicle, then you’d create the biggest NAFTA traffic bottleneck of all time and it would literally strangle North American trade between the U.S., Canada, & Mexico.
Organized crime knows this too so they simply overwhelm the NAFTA ports with load after load so that any resulting seized shipments are simply baked into the cake already and are treated as a cost of doing business.
You’d have to shut down NAFTA entirely if you really wanted to stop it (which simply ain‘t gonna’ happen).
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:01pmAmericans are unbelievable in that even the content and wording of their written language is as a child is as a child is writing it. I can barely even read the posts that people have because the content is drab repetitious and robotic. Seriously though, I don’t think Enos is going to spare the United States. I think he is going to crush it along with many other nations.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:34pmAll hail elisim
Report Post »netmail
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:20amOk, hial Eliasim…oppsy.
Report Post »Whirled Peas
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:54pmApparently, ICE should vet it’s recruits a bit better. I wonder if any of the rifles found had serial numbers of F&F weapons. Just a thought. Also, I wonder if these agents will meet some of the people in the can that they had a hand in deporting a couple of times. That could get nasty if the agents are put in general population.
Report Post »netmail
Posted on October 20, 2011 at 12:27amVet their bosses more. I wonder how many ICE agents are totally frustrated and don’t care about anything anymore? Not condoning anything, but demoralized employees can create more havoc for their employers (and everyone else) than we’ll ever know.
Report Post »ares338
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:53pmI guess he wanted a pay raise!
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:48pmI guess some of our immigration officers don’t make enough money so they need to moonlight as drug smugglers. I guess he felt all those states who voted for medical marijuana need a fresh supply.
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:55pmthe real question is if they knew since 2003 that he was possible stealing the dope,why so long in catching hi, and with fast and furious,how do not know the government did not allow him to bring the dope in,i know someone say conspiracy, but think about,they have been pushing legalizing marijuana for years now so what would stop them,and now they need a scape goat, and if not these idiot should be jailed under the prison,
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 9:38pmThis border-issue will get prolonged national headlines. Oh, the horrible unfairness! Why doesn’t someone do something??
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 19, 2011 at 10:19pmWe did. We started building a fence. Then, obama appointed JR who nixed that one for her boss. That way he didn‘t take the heat for halting construction of the nation’s defenses.
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