(NewsNation) — A former Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced to federal prison for participating in a human smuggling scheme and accepting bribes from a cartel, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Emanuel Isac Celedon, 37, pleaded guilty on March 11, 2024, to four counts of bringing an undocumented alien to the U.S. in one criminal case and to counts of bribery and attempted importation of a controlled substance in the second, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Celedon was sentenced to nearly 117 months in prison for both cases followed by four years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $17,980.
“Anybody who aids or works for the cartel is going to find themselves on the wrong end of a federal indictment,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “This case was especially troubling given the position of trust the defendant held. His criminal conduct stands in stark contrast to the heroic work the men and women of CBP are doing every day to keep our border and ports secure.”
Celedon was assigned to guard the Juarez-Lincoln Port of Entry in Laredo on the U.S.-Mexico border. On at least nine occasions from September to November 2023, he illegally let in several individuals, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Authorities said Celedon sought contacts within the Cartel del Noreste to smuggle drugs and migrants through his inspection lane in exchange for money.
Officials said that at least twice, Celadon falsely input information into a CBP database to avoid sending the driver to mandatory secondary inspection.
The former officer also asked conspirators to relay information to Mexican smugglers in an attempt to reassure them he was “doing his part to facilitate the organization’s human smuggling efforts,” according to officials.
Celadon admitted to providing his daily lane assignment to human smugglers so they could enter the country without inspection or documentation of passengers.
In an undercover investigation, the former officer let through what he thought was cocaine but was actually “sham cocaine” from Mexico on two occasions in October 2023.
Celedon was paid a total of $6,000 after the vehicles with sham cocaine safely crossed the border.
NewsNation’s Safia Samee Ali contributed to this report.