A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer will spend more than nine years in prison for his role in helping the terrorist organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel move large quantities of drugs into California. The drug shipments included cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine.
A U.S. District Court judge sentenced former CBP Officer Jesse Clark Garcia to nine years in federal prison on drug trafficking and drug-trafficking conspiracy charges. Clark is the second officer in the case to be sentenced for letting drugs move through their inspection lane at the Tecate Port of Entry.
As Breitbart Texas reported, federal authorities initially arrested Clark and Diego Bonillo in 2024 as part of an investigation into corrupt agents working with the Sinaloa Cartel. The two officers would collect $10,000 per loaded car in bribes from cartel smugglers in exchange for letting them cross through their inspection lanes without being checked. Both Bonillo and Clark pleaded guilty to the charges. A federal judge sentenced Bonillo to 15 years in prison in November 2025.
Information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Southern California revealed that the two officers lived beyond their means, spending large quantities of money on luxury fashion items, European vacations, high-priced boxing seats in Las Vegas, high-end vehicles, real estate properties in California, a ranch in Mexico and part ownership of a horse racing business.
According to prosecutors, Clark and Bonillo would use a series of coded messages with emojis to communicate with smugglers, letting them know which lane to use. Authorities first began to look into Clark in 2021, when they caught a woman at the port of entry with 140 pounds of cocaine and 25 pounds of meth. The woman was trying to cross to Clark’s lane, but a change in lanes led her to another booth where they found the drugs. As part of the investigation, authorities learned that the woman constantly crossed through Clark’s lane and did not cross when he was not working.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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