McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A judge placed two U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers on probation Tuesday after they confessed to cheating on a physical fitness test.
Officer Cristiani Briana White, 27, of Mission wanted to join Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), but she injured her knee and couldn’t pass the physical fitness test. Determined to get her “dream job” anyway, White decided to cheat.
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” White said on Tuesday afternoon, when she appeared before a judge at the federal courthouse in McAllen. “And I deeply apologize.”
White asked Officer Cynteria Janise LeBlanc, 26, of Mission to take the physical fitness test for her.
“I deeply regret my actions and I do apologize,” LeBlanc said, adding that she was “super embarrassed.”
White and LeBlanc pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and promised to resign from CBP. During the hearing on Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis placed them on probation for six months.
“A mistake was made,” Alanis said. “Both appear to be disappointed in themselves.”
White and LeBlanc worked for CBP, which conducts immigration and customs inspections at international bridges in the Rio Grande Valley.
To join the agency, they had to pass a basic physical fitness test.
White, though, wanted to join HSI, which is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE agents must pass a more rigorous test.
“She got injured while a federal agent, and couldn’t pass the physical to move on up,” White’s attorney, Joseph C. Magliolo Jr. of Houston, said during a hearing in July. “It’s a sad story.”
White requested a second chance.
Agents with HSI agreed to meet her at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for a do-over in November 2024.
White sent LeBlanc, who attempted to take the test for her.
“Ms. LeBlanc used Ms. White’s ID to go to UTRGV to conduct the physical fitness test,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarina S. DiPiazza said during the hearing in July.
One agent who attended the test, however, had met White before. When the agent confronted LeBlanc, she attempted to leave.
LeBlanc told the agents “they were all federal officers,” DiPiazza said during the hearing in July, “and she would hope that they would ‘let this one slide.’”
They didn’t.
After identifying LeBlanc, the agents contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, which investigated the incident.
White and LeBlanc pleaded guilty to possession of an identification document with intent to defraud the United States, a federal misdemeanor.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to charge them with lying to federal agents, which is a felony.
White and LeBlanc also promised to resign from CBP and not to apply for another federal job for 25 years.
“The main goal is just to have both defendants resign from CBP so they’re no longer CBPOs,” DiPiazza said during the hearing in July. “That’s our main concern.”
White and LeBlanc returned to court Tuesday afternoon for sentencing.
As part of the plea agreement, the government recommended that White and LeBlanc be placed on probation until they resigned from CBP.
White and LeBlanc, meanwhile, promised to resign within 24 hours of the plea.
As a result, they might spend just minutes on probation.
Alanis, the federal judge, rejected that recommendation and placed them on probation for six months.
White and LeBlanc worked hard, Alanis said, and secured good jobs with CBP.
“Despite that, you partook in this criminal adventure,” Alanis said.
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