A Los Angeles police officer has been arrested on federal charges alleging he tried to smuggle two illegal immigrants into the United States this week in southeastern San Diego County.
Mambasse Koulabalo Patara has been charged with violating immigration laws, according to a federal complaint filed Wednesday.
He was arrested early Tuesday morning at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Pine Valley, located about 12 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to the complaint, at 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, Patara drove up to the checkpoint with two male passengers in a 2006 Toyota Corolla.
While being interviewed by Border Patrol agents, Koulabalo showed them his LAPD badge and stated he was off-duty, the complaint states. Agents later patted him down and found his service-issued gun in his waistband, the complaint reads.
Koulabalo reportedly told border agents his two passengers were U.S. citizens. The men, identified as Herman Lopez and his nephew German Ramirez Gonzalez, eventually admitted they were in the country illegally. – READ MORE
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