EL PASO, Texas — A former supervisory officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was sentenced to 7 ½ years in federal prison for alien smuggling and accepting a bribe.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

On May 26, a federal jury in El Paso found Lawrence Madrid, 54, guilty of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain, aiding and abetting alien smuggling for financial gain, and two substantive counts of accepting a bribe.

According to court records, from August 2010 to September 2011, Madrid conspired with others to encourage/induce illegal aliens to enter and reside in the United States without proper authorization. As his part of this conspiracy, Madrid accepted money for using his official position to allow illegal aliens to be smuggled into the United States through the ports of entry in El Paso.

In addition, the federal jury found that on two separate occasions Madrid accepted money to allow an illegal alien to enter the United States without proper authorization through the pedestrian lanes of a port of entry. In addition to the 90-month prison sentence, Madrid must also serve three years of supervised release.

An arrest warrant is in effect for Madrid’s 39-year-old wife, Odet. She failed to appear for trial and is considered a fugitive. Her $10,000 appearance bond has been forfeited to the government. Odet Madrid-Corchado is charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain, one substantive count of alien smuggling for financial gain, and one count of bribing a public official. If convicted of these charges, Madrid-Corchado faces not more than 10 years imprisonment on the conspiracy charge, between three and 10 years imprisonment for the substantive alien smuggling charge, and not more than 15 years imprisonment for the bribery charge.

A third defendant in this case, Maria Guadalupe Jaime-Hernandez, 46, an illegal alien, is also considered a fugitive after failing to appear for sentencing earlier this month. On May 5, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain. Her $10,000 appearance bond has been forfeited to the government, and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General also participated in this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg McDonald and Robert Almonte, Western District of Texas, prosecuted this case.