SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A former Border Patrol agent pleaded guilty Thursday to drug charges, admitting that he conspired to distribute a chemical used in the making of fentanyl.
Cesar Daleo, 47, was arrested on August 29, 2017, while trying to drive into Mexico with a package believed to contain 4ANPP (4-anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine), a schedule II controlled substance.
Court records show that Daleo picked up the package, shipped from China, at a post office in San Ysidro. Daleo previously picked up 13 other packages from the same post office.
Several weeks before, on August 11, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent stationed at Los Angeles International Airport intercepted a package from China containing the substance.
Investigators replaced the 4ANPP with a harmless substance and waited for someone to pick it up in San Ysidro.
After picking up the package and trying to cross the US-Mexico border, Daleo was taken into custody.
Daleo now faces a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances charge. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
