Border Agent Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Pot
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent has pleaded guilty to smuggling 750 pounds of marijuana that he picked up in a government vehicle at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Luis Higareda, 31, faces a minimum five-year sentence after entering his plea Thursday in federal court in San Diego.
Higareda was arrested earlier this year after leading federal agents on a 20-mile chase from Calexico to Holtville. The drugs were found in duffel bugs inside the marked U.S. Border Patrol vehicle.
A passenger, Marcelino Verdugo Cota, 24, also pleaded guilty Thursday to drug smuggling.
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