16 SOLDIERS, LAW OFFICERS CHARGED

FBI Sting Uncovers Drug Conspiracy

TUCSON - Sixteen current and former soldiers and law-enforcement officers
were implicated Thursday in a "widespread" cocaine-trafficking conspiracy
that FBI officials said will eventually bring down more public officials.

U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors would not disclose what started an
undercover FBI probe in December 2001 that so far has snagged personnel
from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Arizona Army
National Guard, U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Army, Arizona Department of
Corrections and Nogales Police Department.

The first 11 defendants entered guilty pleas to conspiracy charges in
Tucson federal court on Thursday in exchange for cooperating with
investigators in a larger investigation that involves other agencies,
including some outside Arizona, Justice Department officials said. They
were released without bail pending sentencing. Five others await hearings.

Jana D. Monroe, special agent in charge of the FBI's Phoenix field office,
said the investigation is "one of the more significant" cases of public
corruption in Arizona, a smuggling corridor and distribution hub for
illegal drugs. The Justice Department said the defendants helped transport
more than 560 kilograms of cocaine from southern Arizona to Phoenix and Las
Vegas in exchange for about $220,000.

"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having the task of
protecting society and securing America's borders," she said at a news
conference on Thursday morning. "The importance of these tasks cannot be
overstated, and we cannot tolerate nor can the American people afford this
type of corruption."

One by one, the defendants stood in the airy courtroom as Magistrate Judge
Charles R. Pyle called their names. The 10 men and one woman admitted they
were in a position of public trust when they agreed to transport cocaine
for a drug cartel.

Working in groups of more than a dozen, according to the plea agreements,
some defendants took up to $15,000 in cash payments from undercover FBI
agents. Justice Department officials said they recruited new participants
in exchange for extra bribes.

The soldiers and law officers carried official IDs, wore their uniforms and
relied upon their "color of authority" to move the drugs, said Noel
Hillman, Public Integrity Section chief for the Department of Justice.

One operation in August 2002 involved defendants decked out in military
uniforms and riding in National Guard Humvees to a clandestine airfield
near Benson to meet a twin-engine plane manned by undercover FBI agents,
according to court records.

"Those defendants, while in full uniform, supervised the unloading of
approximately 60 kilograms of cocaine from the King Air into their
vehicles," according to a Justice Department account. "They then drove the
cocaine to a resort hotel in Phoenix where they were met by another agent
of the FBI, posing as a high-echelon narcotics trafficker, who immediately
paid them off in cash."

Another operation took place in April 2002 when INS port inspector John M.
Castillo, 30, allegedly waved two trucks through a Nogales border
checkpoint, believing they were loaded with 80 pounds of cocaine.

The Justice Department said every defendant took part in escorting at least
two drug shipments. Federal prosecutors typically file multiple felony
charges in such cases, seeking severe sentences in high-volume drug cases.
In this instance, the suspects face no more than five years in prison.

Prosecutors also routinely bargain with suspects, offering reduced charges
for evidence and testimony against co-conspirators.

The 16 defendants were not arrested; instead, they were allowed to appear
voluntarily in court to enter guilty pleas after waiving indictment.
Hillman said they are cooperating fully with prosecutors and the
investigation is ongoing.

More public officials are expected to be implicated, he added, some from
agencies outside Arizona.

Maj. Gen. David Rataczak, adjutant general for the Arizona Army National
Guard, could not be reached for comment. Maj. Eileen Bienz, a Guard
spokeswoman, said military officials "have been fully cooperating with the
FBI on this case" and the seven soldiers implicated are not representative
of Arizona's 7,000 guard members.

Military investigations and discipline will not take place until the FBI
case is completed.

Bienz said she does not know where the soldiers are stationed, but none
served on the Joint Counter Narco-Terrorism Task Force.

Investigators would not say what sparked an investigation that began just
three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That was a time
when FBI officials in Arizona said every agent was engaged in
anti-terrorism work.

Hillman said the sting's outcome does not suggest rampant corruption among
law-enforcement or military personnel in Arizona. The conduct of 16
individuals out of hundreds of thousands of sworn personnel, he cautioned,
is not "reflective in any way of the agencies they work for or the men and
women who put their lives at risk every day."