Five
Arizona Residents Including Corrections Officer Arrested
Douglas, Ariz. — An Arizona Department
of Corrections officer is one of five individuals arrested Monday in separate
incidents for allegedly transporting marijuana into the United States through
the Douglas Port of Entry.
Ramon Cruz, 28, applied for entry into
the United States when a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer noticed
his Department of Corrections uniform with attached badge lying in the back
seat of his Ford pickup truck. During primary inspection, the CBP officer asked
Cruz to open the center console. When Cruz opened the console, the CBP officer
observed brick-shaped packages and referred Cruz for a secondary inspection.
During a secondary inspection, a CBP
canine alerted to vehicle’s center console. Officers then removed 19 packages
of marijuana with a combined weight of more than 21 pounds and an estimated
value of more than $10,500. Cruz was arrested and his uniform and badge were
turned over to a criminal investigator from the Arizona Department of Corrections.
In another incident, 23-year-old Joel
Soriano and his two 19-year-old passengers, Carmen Torres and Julio Cesar
Garcia, were arrested after CBP officers discovered almost 34 pounds of
marijuana hidden in Soriano’s 1995 Monte Carlo. The narcotics had an estimated
value of nearly $17,000.
The largest seizure, however, resulted
from the discovery of a false floor in a 1995 Chevrolet Suburban driven by
38-year-old Robert Dale Alcorn of Phoenix. A canine alerted to the floor area
where officers later found and removed more than 600 pounds of marijuana valued
in excess of $300,000.
In all three incidents, the subjects
were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security
Investigations and the narcotics and vehicles were seized by Customs and Border
Protection.
Individuals arrested may be charged by
complaint, the method by which a person is charged with criminal activity,
which raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent unless
and until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt
beyond a reasonable doubt.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is
the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged
with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and
between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and
terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
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