INSPECTOR PORTRAYED AS CORRUPT BY PROSECUTORS, INEPT BY DEFENSE

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say a veteran immigration inspector
was corrupt and betrayed the United States by taking bribes to allow drugs
and illegal immigrants to enter the country. His defense lawyer says he was
just bad at his job.

A federal court jury in San Diego on Thursday began deciding which version
to believe in a case of alleged corruption at the U.S.-Mexico border that
could net Richard Lawrence Pineda a 15-year prison sentence.

The senior inspector, now on administrative leave from the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, is accused of accepting at least $350,000 to allow
25 illegal immigrants in six cars and thousands of pounds of marijuana in
four carloads to pass through his lane at the San Ysidro Port of Entry over
a 12-month period.

Federal authorities allege Pineda, 42, conspired with two Mexican
nationals, including a Tijuana police officer, and may have allowed at
least 10 more drug loads to enter country.

``He sold his office. He sold his integrity. He betrayed his country,''
federal prosecutor John H. Gomez said during closing arguments.

Pineda's lawyer argued that the government's case is built on flimsy
evidence and what appears to be wrongdoing on FBI surveillance tapes are
signs that the inspector was ``burnt out'' and not effective at checking
cars for drugs and illegal immigrants.

The court-appointed lawyer, Mark Adams, said smugglers watched the port of
entry, noticed that Pineda made cursory inspections, and deliberately sent
vehicles to his lane.

``He was targeted by the smuggling organization as someone who moved
traffic quickly, who was inept, as someone who could be exploited,'' Adams
said.

The jury ended deliberations Thursday without reaching a verdict.
Deliberations were scheduled to resume 9 a.m. Friday.

The government indicted Tijuana police officer Jose Saul Curley Dominguez
on smuggling, conspiracy, and racketeering charges and U.S. authorities
unsuccessfully attempted to lure him across the border with tickets to
sporting events so he could be arrested, according to sources close to the
case.

Two federal agents, seeking the officer's arrest, also met with Alfredo de
la Torre, the Tijuana police chief who was shot and killed in a
drug-related assassination in February. Curley, a former bodyguard of the
slain chief, has denied any wrongdoing, the sources said.

The other Mexican indicted with Pineda and Curley also remains at large.

The alleged conspiracy occurred at the busy San Ysidro port, an often
chaotic area where some 44,000 cars head northbound through 20 inspection
lanes each day. Pineda, a San Diego resident who is married and has two
children, was hired by the INS in 1982 and assigned to the port in 1987.

After receiving a tip that he may be corrupt, a federal law enforcement
task force began surveillance of Pineda in December 1997. Informants in
Mexico told authorities when smuggling cars would pass through his lane
during an investigation that lasted until February 1999.

Investigators waited until smugglers cleared Pineda's checkpoint before
intercepting them. All 25 illegal immigrants were apprehended along with
nearly 3,550 pounds of marijuana, said Edward Weiner, an assistant U.S.
attorney.

U.S. authorities said Pineda spent some of the proceeds on a family trip to
a Mexican beach resort and for home improvements but they were unable to
account for the bulk of the bribes -- a fact that the inspector's lawyer
argued helped point to his innocence.