Border Patrol agent sentenced to probation for federal civil rights violation – Progress Occasions

A border guard who pressed a woman against a wall and forced her to stop filming police officers was given parole Tuesday.

US judge J. Scott Hacker sentenced 45-year-old border guard Adriana Gandarilla from San Benito to two years probation.

Gandarilla will be in custody for the first 60 days. She also has to pay a fine of $ 2,500.

“I took responsibility from the start,” said Gandarilla. “And if I could go back, I would take back my actions.”

On Tuesday afternoon when she appeared for conviction, Gandarilla remained employed by Border Patrol.

Gandarilla said Border Patrol took away her gun and put her on administrative duty with no access to computers. The Rio Grande Valley Sector declined to comment.

“Obviously, your Border Patrol career is on thin ice at this point,” said McAllen’s attorney Rey Merino, who represents Gandarilla.

Prosecutors accused Gandarilla after an incident on May 6, 2018 when border guards chased a car through La Joya.

The driver crashed on the 900 block on South Garza Street. Several people jumped out of the car and ran away.

Border guards, soldiers from the Texas Department of Public Security and officers from the La Joya Police Department followed them.

Gandarilla asked a woman – identified as “MP” in court records – for permission to search a nearby house. The woman agreed.

“Using her cell phone, the victim’s MP began taping Agent Gandarilla and other police officers as they searched for and collected firearms in the main residence. Agent Gandarilla instructed the victim’s MP several times not to record it, but the victim’s MP insisted on the recording, “was the factual basis for the plea read by US Assistant Attorney Sebastian Edwards in court on September 18, 2020, when Gandarilla pleaded guilty. “Frustrated, Agent Gandarilla grabbed the victim’s MP by the neck and then by the arms and pushed her back against the front wall of the main residence while repeatedly ordering the video to be deleted. The victim MP then stuck to it. “

When she pleaded guilty, Gandarilla said she did not remember grabbing the woman by the neck.

Prosecutors charged Gandarilla with disenfranchised rights due to the color of the law, a federal offense. It appears to have made an informal arrangement with the government.

“Although there is no written informed consent, there has been discussion between the government and Ms. Gandarilla’s attorney about indicting this crime as a misdemeanor if Ms. Gandarilla swiftly moved to appeal the case,” Edwards said in September. 18 hearing.

Gandarilla appeared on video conference call Tuesday afternoon for conviction.

During the hearing, she apologized to Border Patrol and the community for failing her.

“I regret that I lost my cool, that I was unprofessional, that I was disrespectful to her,” said Gandarilla.

Hacker, the federal judge, described the incident as disturbing.

“It’s also worrying because Agent Gandarilla is a regulatory border guard and has appeared in front of at least seven other agents,” Hacker said along with other law enforcement officers.

However, documents presented to the court showed that Gandarilla had an excellent record in the military and Border Patrol prior to the incident, Hacker said. She also received at least one letter of support from an employee.

“After about 19 years, Agent Gandarilla should have had the attitude of standing there and having the citizen recorded,” said Hacker.

While she was in jail for a maximum of a year, the US attorney’s office recommended that Gandarilla be sentenced to 90 to 120 days suspended sentence.

Hacker sentenced Gandarilla to two years probation with 60 days in prison, a fine of US $ 2,500 and 100 hours of community service.

If she pays the fine and does community service every 100 hours within the first year, hackers would consider ending Gandarilla’s parole early.