LAREDO, TEXAS (AP) -- A former Customs and Border Protection agent in Laredo must serve five years in federal prison over a bogus travel documents scheme.
A judge on Thursday sentenced 28-year-old Ramiro Villarreal Jr. of Laredo, plus an accomplice, 52-year-old 52-year-old Juan Esteban Velasquez.
Velasquez was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison. Both Laredo men must also pay $5,000 fines.
A July plea agreement indicates the men conspired to produce and sell fraudulent travel documents to foreigners looking to enter the U.S. and travel into the nation's interior.
Investigators say Velasquez served as a document vendor.
The time frame was February 2007 until Villarreal was arrested this year, May 1.
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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