By Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times, Texas
The wife of a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisor was arrested Wednesday on charges of conspiring with her husband to smuggle undocumented , the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Supervisory CBP Officer Lawrence Madrid, 53, his wife, Odet Madrid Corchado, 38, and Maria Guadalupe Jaime-Hernandez, 45, an undocumented Mexican living in Las Cruces, were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, smuggling and bribery charges.
Madrid Corchado and Jaime-Hernandez were arrested by Homeland Security Investigations agents on Wednesday after a seven-count indictment issued on Aug. 19 was unsealed.
HSI agents had arrested Madrid at his home in El Paso on July 24. He has since been released from jail on a $20,000bond.
Madrid Corchado was released from jail on a $10,000 bond, officials said. Jaime-Hernandez remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing Monday.
El Paso County marriage records show that Lawrence and Odet Madrid were married in 2006.
Madrid, who has been with the border agency for 20 years, is accused of accepting bribes allegedly collected by his wife and Jaime-Hernandez to allow undocumented from Mexico to enter the U.S. while Madrid worked at a pedestrian lane at the Bridge of the Americas, according to a federal criminal complaint. The conspiracy allegedly took place from 2010 and 2011.
The alleged scheme was discovered Jan. 23 when HSI agents arrested an undocumented in Anthony, N.M., who told the agents that he had entered the United States with the help of a CBP officer at the Bridge of the Americas, according to the criminal complaint.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102.
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