WTH: Arizona Border Patrol Agent Arrested, Charged With Drug Trafficking

A Customs and Border Patrol agent was arrested and federally charged with multiple counts of drug trafficking, conspiracy and distribution of controlled substances.

A Department of Justice charging document alleges that Carlos Victor Passapera Pinott, 53, of Buckeye, Arizona, transported two duffel bags containing heroin and fentanyl from the US-Mexico border to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, where the drugs were handed off to another criminal operative.

Passapera is a Border Patrol agent assigned to the Tucson sector. The charging document details his alleged activities.

“On August 9, 2020, at approximately 3:15 AM, Passapera left his residence and drove south to a remote area of the border west of the Lukeville Port of Entry. Passapera then drove to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where he loaded two duffel bags into another vehicle. Law enforcement agents stopped the driver of that vehicle after it left the airport, and searched the duffel bags.

The bags contained multiple packages of substances that field tested positive for the characteristics of cocaine (21 kilograms), heroin (1 kilogram), and fentanyl (1 kilogram). The bags also contained approximately 350,000 pills. A sample from the pills field tested positive for the characteristics of fentanyl.”

Law enforcement took Passapera into custody on Sunday, and seized $329,000 from his residence and $40,000 from his vehicle.

Passapera, who is facing multiple drug trafficking charges, could face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Federal prosecutors conceivably won’t take kindly to a federal agent engaging in what is a de facto betrayal of the United States, using a position of power to advance the goals of those who seem to be affiliated with criminal drug cartel and trafficking organizations.