Trial dates set for two San Diego Border Patrol agents who allegedly helped smuggle drugs through the Tecate and Otay Mesa ports of entry
A federal judge also rejected a motion by one of the defendants to be released from pre-trial detention, agreeing with concerns about public safety and flight risk
Two Border Patrol agents who are accused of working with drug traffickers in San Diego are scheduled to stand trial April 21-25, 2025, following a hearing yesterday in federal court.
Those agents, Jesse Clark Garcia and Diego Bonillo, allegedly tipped off certain drug smugglers — carrying meth, fentanyl, cocaine, etc. — about which lanes they were working at the Tecate and Otay Mesa ports of entry over the last few years. Both were arrested in May and pleaded not guilty.
Charges were filed after an investigation by the FBI Border Corruption Task Force and DEA.
Garcia allegedly received “tens of thousands of dollars per vehicle he admitted into the United States,” U.S. prosecutors said. And Bonillo’s financial records showed extravagant spending on travel and luxury items that far outpaced his $65K per year + overtime Border Patrol pay.
More on that when I broke the story in August:
There was also a third defendant whose name was redacted in the indictment because that person was still at large, and it appears nothing has changed there. It’s unclear based on the court filings if that person is also a Border Patrol agent.
Garcia and Bonillo are both being detained until the trial, per court order.
In June, an attorney for Bonillo filed a motion for the court to reconsider the detention order, and instead allow him to live in San Diego with his sister and brother-in-law.
District Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro rejected that motion Aug. 9.
In the initial detention order, a magistrate judge agreed that Bonillo’s dual citizenship and family ties in Mexico created a flight risk. Government prosecutors also argued the public safety angle; Bonillo allegedly assisted in fentanyl trafficking “during a timeframe in which San Diego County has declared illegal fentanyl to be a public health emergency.”
The government argument to keep Bonillo detained continued:
As the magistrate judge also found, the danger to the community is even more heightened here where Defendant’s modus operandi was to induce trust as an officer of the United States and then betray that trust to the very community he swore to protect, raising significant public trust issues and insurmountable concerns that he could not be trusted to adhere to conditions restricting his behavior, as would be required if he were released on bond.
A few biographical details about Bonillo were included in his motion:
29 years old
Went to school in Tijuana
Joined the U.S. Army in 2015 and was honorably discharged in 2020
Spent one year in the Army Criminal Investigations Division
Has received commendations including five Army Achievement Medals, three Certificates of Achievement, an Overseas Ribbon and a Deployment Ribbon
Garcia’s attorney also indicated in June that a motion to reconsider his detention order was forthcoming, but ultimately they never filed one.