A former Los Angeles police officer who is a registered sex offender was arrested near Campo after a Border Patrol agent suspected him of smuggling four undocumented immigrants in the back of an SUV, officials said Friday.
Gariner Beasley, 62, was arrested Monday and remained in county jail Friday on charges of felon in possession of a firearm, prohibited person in possession of ammunition, and impersonating a peace officer, according to sheriff’s officials.
The incident occurred around 10 p.m. Monday, after agents received a tip from a resident who spotted what appeared to be a human-smuggling incident involving an older SUV near the border, authorities said. An agent found a vehicle matching the description, and, before a traffic stop could be initiated, the SUV pulled to the side of the road.
The driver, a U.S. citizen, presented what appeared to be a Los Angeles Police Department badge to the agent and identified himself as a lieutenant, Border Patrol said. The agent saw three women and a man in the backseat of the SUV, who told the agent they had just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without permission, officials said.
A search of the vehicle turned up a 9mm “ghost gun” — a firearm that does not have a serial number and is typically homemade from kit parts — as well as two fully loaded magazines and a shoulder holster, officials said.
Authorities identified the driver as Beasley, a former LAPD officer who left the agency in 1993. Beasley was convicted in 1992 of raping two women under color of authority while on-duty, according to a 2009 Los Angeles Times article, which detailed criminal background check failures in Beasley’s later employment at medical centers. He was initially accused of raping four women and allegedly shooting a fifth woman who tried to escape from him, according to Times reporting at the time.
He was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
He was turned over to the Sheriff’s Department, as was the vehicle and gun.
The migrants were taken into custody to be processed for removal from the U.S., Border Patrol said.
