CRAWFORD TRIAL HEARS TESTIMONY OF AGENTS

The Juarez women's murders, allegations of drug cartel ties and a
failed lie-detector test were part of testimony Friday in the trial of
former El Paso FBI office chief Hardrick Crawford.

Crawford made efforts to investigate alleged ties between his friend
Jose Maria Guardia, the owner of the JuA!rez racetrack, and Mexican
drug cartels, but did not break off their friendship even as doubts
were piling up, witnesses testified.

Crawford, who retired in late 2003, is accused in U.S. District Court
of making false statements to investigators looking into his
friendship with Guardia in 2002 and 2003. Crawford pleaded not guilty.
The trial was to continue at 8:45 a.m. today.

FBI agents said their former boss, Crawford, was concerned about the
allegations against his friend and arranged for him to take a
polygraph test. Guardia failed, said Jose Villela, an FBI agent
specializing in drug-trafficking intelligence.

The technician who administered the test said Guardia "had not only
failed it but, in her words, had bombed it," Villela said.

El Paso FBI staffers and agents also testified they didn't know that
Crawford's wife worked at Guardia's racetrack.

In 2003, two FBI informants told agents worrisome things about
Guardia, which were passed on to Crawford. After one report, "Mr.
Crawford said that at that time he was going to distance himself from
Mr. Guardia," Villela said.

But less than a month later, Crawford went on a trip to Las Vegas'
posh Four Seasons hotel, during which prosecutors said Guardia paid
for the hotel rooms and spent more than $8,000 on Celine Dion tickets.

On cross-examination, Crawford's lawyer Mary Stillinger questioned the
credibility of the FBI informants, saying that at least one of them
was close to a political enemy of Guardia's and spoke of things that
allegedly occurred years before and involved people who were either
dead or no longer in Juarez.

Stillinger also pointed out that the FBI agents testifying, who
specialize in Mexican drug networks, hadn't heard of Guardia before
2002.

The People Surprised By The Crawford-Guardia Friendship

Camarillo said that on Sept. 14, 2002, cartel members were watching a
boxing match telecast at the JuA!rez racetrack and were "surprised to
see the (special agent in charge) with Guardia due to the fact that
Mr. Guardia was a money launderer for the cartel."

"The source felt that Guardia was trying to compromise (Crawford) or
that (Crawford) was just naive about Guardia's activities," Camarillo
said. "Guardia notified the media that (Crawford) would be at the
racetrack. Guardia is making sure he is observed with
(Crawford)."

Camarillo said he reported the information to his superior, who passed
it on to Crawford.

"My concern was the safety of the A (Special Agent in Charge
Crawford). People from the cartel were watching him. We didn't want
him kidnapped or murdered," he said.

"Did you worry he might be naive about who he was dealing with?"
Stillinger asked the witness.

"Sometimes, yes," Camarillo said.

In addition, Crawford's comments to the news media criticizing
investigations into the unsolved killings of women in JuA!rez rankled
not only Mexican law enforcement agencies but also FBI superiors and
the U.S. embassy in Mexico City.

FBI agent Sal Hernandez, the legal attachA(c) working for the U.S.
ambassador in Mexico, testified that because of published comments by
Crawford, he had to mend fences with the Mexican attorney general's
office, known as the PGR. Eventually, Crawford's superiors banned him
from Mexico.

Stillinger argued that Crawford had a right to speak out on crime
issues on the El Paso-JuA!rez border.

Hernandez responded, "That's not the FBI's role to criticize foreign
governments."

El Paso Times reporter Daniel Borunda contributed to this report.