Federal agent pleads guilty to taking kickbacks in South American smuggling probe

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Saturday, 04.04.09
Federal agent pleads guilty to taking kickbacks in South American smuggling probe

A longtime federal agent pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from government informants in a South American smuggling investigation.
BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

A federal undercover agent pleaded guilty Friday to shaking down government informants for thousands of dollars while he was infiltrating an Ecuadorean-Chinese smuggling operation.

Pedro Cintron, a veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, was charged with taking more than $15,000 in kickbacks from two paid confidential informants who worked with him in 2004 and 2005. Cintron, 52, who lives in Weston, allegedly instructed one of the informants to deliver $300 to his girlfriend in Ecuador and to obtain $1,000 worth of cellular telephones for her, according to an indictment filed in November. The informant also gave Cintron a gold bracelet valued at $800.

In addition to accepting illegal gratuities, Cintron was charged with theft, disclosing the name of a confidential informant and making false statements to authorities.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Clark said Cintron's alleged kickback scheme unfolded in 2004 when he demanded 10 percent cuts of ICE's payments to the informants helping the undercover agent penetrate the smuggling ring.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/983832.html