Daniel Borunda

El Paso Times

A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisor convicted of taking bribes to allow undocumented immigrants to cross the border into El Paso was sentenced to 7½ years in prison on Friday in federal court, officials said.

Lawrence Madrid, 54, who had been with CBP for 20 years, was found guilty in May by a jury in U.S. District Court on immigrant smuggling and bribery charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Madrid's wife, Odet Madrid Corchado, 39, is considered a fugitive after she didn't show up to trial in the case, officials said. She faces charges of immigrant smuggling and bribery of a public official.

Authorities also are searching for Maria Guadalupe Jaime Hernandez, 46, an undocumented immigrant who didn't show up for her sentencing in the case earlier this month after she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit immigrant smuggling.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said that a $10,000 bond for each women has been forfeited to the government and warrants have been issued for their arrests.

During the trial in May in U.S. District Court in El Paso, several undocumented immigrants testified that they paid Madrid and his wife more than $2,000 for help in crossing the border in a scheme running from August 2010 to September 2011.

The immigrants testified that Madrid was working at pedestrian border crossing lanes when he allowed them into the U.S. without proper identification at the Bridge of the Americas and the Paso del Norte Bridge.

In 2014, an investigation began after an undocumented Mexican immigrant arrested by CBP officers in Anthony, N.M., told officers that he had illegally entered the U.S. with the help of a CBP officer at the Bridge of the Americas because his wife had paid a smuggler, according to testimony and court documents.

In summer 2015, Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Madrid at his El Paso home after an investigation into the bribery case. He was still working for CBP at the time. His wife was arrested a month after he was.

The case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Investigations.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.