Two 17-year-olds from Juárez were caught Sunday afternoon trying to enter the United States at the Paso del Norte Bridge with 50 pounds of cocaine in their car, Customs and Border Protection officials said.

CBP officers found 17 cocaine-filled bundles inside the 1990 BMW 325i driven by a 17-year-old boy. The boy and his 17-year-old female passenger were arrested. In other incidents, CBP officers seized 1,979 pounds of marijuana in 16 incidents between Friday and Sunday in the El Paso area.

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U.S. Customs bridge inspector Mexican Margarita Crispin wore a protective vest Monday as she was escorted into federal court from the El Paso County Jail in Downtown El Paso. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

Mexican Customs officer doesn’t enter plea

The Customs and Border Protection officer arrested Friday morning on drug conspiracy charges had her initial appearance in U.S. District Court Monday afternoon.

Margarita Crispin, 32, was charged with conspiracy to import a controlled substance for allegedly allowing loads of marijuana to pass through her bridge lanes unchecked for the past four years.

If convicted, she faces between 10 years and life in prison.

According to the indictment, Crispin conspired with others to import more than 2,200 pounds of marijuana into the United States starting in 2003, shortly after she was hired as a bridge inspector.

Crispin was put on paid administrative leave by CBP while the case is pending.

Monday morning, she was taken from the El Paso County Jail to federal court where she was read the charges against her by U.S. District Judge Richard P. Mesa. She is scheduled to have a bond hearing Thursday, officials said. Crispin did not enter a plea on Monday but will during another court procedure.

The last El Paso bridge inspector to be indicted for turning a blind eye to drug shipments was Mexican Gerardo Diaz, a CBP officer who let a shipment of cocaine through the Zaragoza Bridge in 2004. He was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

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