On Monday night, San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a registered sex offender involved in human smuggling and in possession of a firearm.
Acting on a local resident's tip about a suspicious SUV near the border, the agents intercepted the vehicle. The driver, a male U.S. citizen, claimed to be a former LAPD lieutenant and even had an LAPD-like badge. On further inspection, four individuals were found in the back seat of the vehicle who confessed to entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico before being taken into custody with the driver per the U.S. Customs and Border Protection report.
The SUV search yielded an un-serialized 9mm handgun or "ghost gun," two fully loaded 9mm magazines, and a shoulder holster. Unearthed from the records of the driver, also formerly from the LAPD, was a 1993 conviction for rape and a subsequent three-year prison sentence, coinciding with the termination of his tenure with the LAPD.
This distressing occurrence underscores the volatile and unpredictable nature of border patrol assignments. As said by Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel in the report, "our agents never know what they will encounter in a single day."
The arrested individual, a former LAPD officer, had dubious involvement in human smuggling and unauthorized firearms while operating under a veil of authority.
