A former U.S. Border Patrol agent has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance used for making fentanyl, a deadly drug.
Cesar Daleo, 49, of Chula Vista, is now confined in an Oklahoma City federal prison after surrendering in June to start his term, according to an online prison record on June 30.
Daleo also pleaded guilty to in a second case for conspiring to smuggle a protected species of sea cucumbers. U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel imposed 24 months for the sea cucumber case, but ruled it be served concurrently with the 30-month term so he won’t do any extra time.
Curiel ordered him to pay $5,400 in restitution to Mexico for smuggling bags of dried sea cucumbers from Mexico, court records show. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Daleo had smuggled dried sea cucumbers at least 80 times between 2014 and 2016. The cucumbers are considered delicacies in China. He smuggled the sea cucumbers without showing where they were obtained.
Daleo was arrested Aug. 29, 2017, while trying to drive into Mexico with a package he believed to be a drug used in making fentanyl. Dale had previously picked up 13 other packages at that same post office, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Daleo had picked up a package that was shipped from China at a post office box in San Ysidro.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent stationed at Los Angeles International Airport had intercepted a package from China and discovered it contained 4ANPP, whose formal name is 4-anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine. That package was seized, but the drug was replaced with a harmless substance and was picked up by Daleo.
“This is a fitting sentence for a former law enforcement agent who knew the dangers of drugs like fentanyl, yet did not hesitate to hand them out, for a price,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer in a statement.
“Now it is he who will pay a price for distributing a drug that destroys lives, families and communities,” said Brewer.
