Border Patrol agent nabbed in undercover drug sting is granted bail

Reporting from San Diego —  A federal judge granted bail Thursday for a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of smuggling backpacks he thought were loaded with drugs across the border fence.

Noe Lopez, a 10-year Border Patrol veteran who worked out of the Imperial Beach station, must post $200,000 bail secured by property. He also was ordered to be monitored by a GPS tracking device and surrender any firearms he owns.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Heyman argued at the hearing that Lopez, who was arrested Dec. 14 following a two-month undercover sting, was a flight risk and should not be freed from custody.

Heyman told the judge that Lopez met a man at a party and the two struck up a friendship. Lopez later bragged about how easy it was for him to smuggle drugs that were staged at the border fence and offered to go into business together, authorities said.

The man went to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with the information and became a confidential source. He then cooperated with investigators and helped pull off two transactions with Lopez, Heyman said.

Lopez is accused of taking the source on a driving tour of the border fence — both from the U.S. side and the Mexico side — to show where ideal spots were to drop drug loads and where sensors and cameras were located, Heyman said.

On Dec. 6 and 8, Lopez agreed to pick up backpacks at sites at the border fence while on duty, according to the complaint. Undercover agents placed the backpacks there and loaded them with fake cocaine and methamphetamine.

Lopez picked up both loads and later delivered them to the source in his personal vehicle after work, the complaint states.

He was paid $10,000 for his efforts, prosecutors said.

Heyman said that evidence collected in the case suggests Lopez may have committed similar acts in the past.

In one text exchange with the confidential source, Lopez implored him to trust him because it could be a lucrative partnership. “He said, ‘Trust me, we’ll start small, I’ll prove myself and we’ll keep building up,’ ” Heyman said.

Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com