A former Baja California state police officer who tried to drive through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in a drug-laden vehicle was sentenced Friday to just over three years in prison.
Victor Alfonso Moreno-Mejia, 35, who Mexican officials said had been an officer for seven years, was arrested last year with around 100 pounds of cocaine inside his car.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court states Moreno-Mejia’s vehicle was inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who discovered 35 packages hidden in the car’s driver’s seat, passenger seat and rear seats.
According to the complaint, Moreno-Mejia told investigators that he did not know drugs were in his car, but stated that a few days earlier, he had left his car at a mechanic’s shop in Tijuana who he had previously investigated “for having possible ties to cartels.”
His plea agreement states Moreno-Mejia left his vehicle at the mechanic’s shop for one week and was told that after picking it back up, he’d have to drive the car into the United States. Prosecutors allege he did not inspect what his vehicle might contain but was aware of the possibility it had been loaded with drugs.
Moreno-Mejia pleaded guilty to a federal count of importation of cocaine and was sentenced Friday to 39 months in custody.
