San Luis Police officers guilty of drug smuggling

May 3, 2010

By KAREN VELIE

CalCoastNews has learned that two San Luis Obispo police officers have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of bringing misbranded Mexican prescription drugs into the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry south of San Diego.

The officers, Dan McDow and Armando Limon, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors in exchange for no jail time and a year of unsupervised probation, according to court documents obtained by CalCoastNews.

Last Sept. 15, the two officers were stopped and detained while reentering the U.S. from the Mexican border town of Tijuana, said Lauren Mack, spokesperson for Immigration and Customs in San Diego.

The officers were attempting to bring more than 800 pills, including both uppers and diet pills, into the United States. Neither officer had prescriptions for the Spanish labeled drugs.

McDow and Limon were placed on paid leave on Sept. 16 after the city learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were investigating them. The officers earned more than $150,000 during the investigation.

As of March 11 of this year, Limon had received $75,393 in total pay and benefits and, for McDow, that amounts to $75,817. The officers remain on paid administrative leave.

Update: This story has been updated to include some drug types as well as the quantity of pills.

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