A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was sentenced Friday to 23 years in prison after accepting bribes to allow undocumented migrants and illegal drugs through the port of entrance to San Ysidro, according to federal prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson handed down the sentence after a jury sentenced Leonard Darnell George, 42, received bribery as a public official earlier this year, conspiracy to import methamphetamine and two counts of conspiracy to bring in migrants undocumented in the United States.

George joined CBP in 2018 after working for CoreCivic, the private prison company that operates the Otay Mesa Detention Center.

“Public corruption, as in this case, is a betrayal of trust that erodes the very foundations of law enforcement principles and undermines the public’s perception of those who are held to higher standards,” he said. said Shawn Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Francisco. Diego, said in a press release Friday.

In a sentencing memo filed in court last week, George’s attorney, Antonio Yoon, said his client — a U.S. Navy veteran and married father of four — did not know or have no control over the quantity or purity of the drugs introduced.

“As the Bible teaches us, justice must be tempered with mercy,” Yoon said in the note.

The court ultimately rejected Yoon’s argument that 10 years in prison would have been sufficient punishment.

Federal prosecutors told a jury earlier this year that George began committing his crimes after meeting two smugglers at the Hong Kong Gentleman’s Club, a Tijuana strip club known for offering prostitution, in the fall 2021.

In exchange for money, George told smugglers when he was working and what lane he was in at the crossing to enter the United States from Mexico, prosecutors said.

A plea agreement reached by one of George’s co-defendants said the smugglers sent four or five vehicle loads of drugs or undocumented migrants through George’s driveway during each shift he worked. The co-defendant also estimated that approximately 300 undocumented migrants entered the United States through George’s Lane.

Prosecutors said George became known as “the goalie” among traffickers and made between $300,000 and $400,000 by allowing traffickers to cross the border at least 19 times between October 2021 and June 2022.

George used the bribe money to pay for vehicles, motorcycles and jewelry, prosecutors said. During his regular visits to the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club, he spent about $5,000 per trip and was seen “dumping” money on the club’s dancers, prosecutors said.

At one point during the trial, prosecutors demonstrated George’s connection to the criminal operation by showing a photo of one of the traffickers wearing George’s CBP uniform jacket, officials said.

Prosecutors also showed text messages and audio recordings between George’s wife and a high-ranking member of the drug trafficking group discussing her husband’s payment.