EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two Point Loma, Calif., residents arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with several pounds of meth allegedly strapped to their bodies have pleaded not guilty to federal charges of importation of a controlled substance.
The plea entered last Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Southern California comes despite statements allegedly made by Jessie Gutierrez and Jaime Jesus Gutierrez to federal investigators to the effect they were being paid $300 to $400 for smuggling drugs from Mexico into the United States.
Events unfolded on the afternoon of Feb. 15 at the port’s pedestrian inspection office when two young men told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer they were American citizens returning from visiting their ill grandmother in Mexico.
The CBP officer became suspicious of the young men during the admission interview; he noticed they wore oversized sweatshirts and decided to pat them down. According to court documents, the officer felt a “solid object” down the leg of Jaime Gutierrez and asked him if he was bringing anything into the United States. The young man allegedly responded, “Yes, I have something illegal” down there.
The officer also patted down Jessie Gutierrez and felt an object near the torso. Both men were sent to a secondary inspection area where each had strapped packages carrying 9.26 pounds of a crystal-shaped substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, according to a federal criminal complaint.
During a post-arrest interview, Jessie Gutierrez and Jaime Gutierrez allegedly admitted they were going to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. and be paid $300 to $400 by unnamed parties, court documents show.
The two men were arraigned on March 14 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard in San Diego. Court records show the suspects entered a not-guilty plea and are scheduled to appear at a trial-setting hearing on April 12 before U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta.
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