Documents paint picture of a good agent that went bad

By Michel Marizco
Published Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:05 AM MDT

Court documents in the case of a well-regarded former federal agent in Nogales, paint a picture of a man nearly beholden to a Mexican drug cartel.

Richard Padilla Cramer, the resident agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Nogales, Ariz., five years ago, was denied bond in federal court on Friday, Sept. 4. He is charged with trafficking more than 600 pounds of cocaine from Panama to Spain in a complex scheme that moved the narcotics up the eastern seaboard then across the Atlantic Ocean by merchant ship.

His alleged arrangements with the cartel suggest a man in need of money but willing to take any task put forward by the cartel leaders, including retiring from his 30-year career as a federal agent in order to dedicate himself to trafficking drugs and laundering cash.

Charges filed in a Miami, Fla., court accuse Padilla Cramer of selling sensitive database queries from ICE and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Mexico, including one for $2,000.

He educated the cartel on how American law enforcement flips informants and the processes behind warrants and record checks. Sometime before he retired from ICE in 2007, a lead figure in the cartel encouraged Padilla Cramer to leave the agency and, instead, go to work for the cartel. Federal prosecutors have not identified publicly which cartel Padilla Cramer went to work for.

The Gulf Cartel has shifted its drug market to Europe over the past two years but Guadalajara, where Padilla Cramer worked, is under the control of longtime kingpins “El Azul,” Juan Jose Esparragoza, and Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal. Eyebrows were raised across both sides of the border last February when Coronel allegedly visited the Ambos Nogales area. Coronel is wanted by the United States, which is offering a $5 million bounty.

Until he retired, Padilla Cramer led an illustrious career in law enforcement in Southern Arizona. Before taking over the ICE office in Nogales, Padilla Cramer worked in internal affairs for ICE and once taught ethics courses at the El Paso Intelligence Center, say law enforcement agents contacted for this story. Sources within Homeland Security say Padilla hired two agents to work alongside him in internal affairs.

Regardless of which cartel he retired and went to work for, Padilla Cramer took another job, this one with the Santa Cruz County Detention Center. He took the job in May and even went through the Correctional Officers Training Academy in Tucson, said sheriff’s department officials.

According to the 11-page federal complaint, the case began with four unidentified informants working for the DEA. An informant within a Mexican cartel was negotiating the sale of 660 pounds of cocaine from Panama City, Panama, to Vigo, Spain. A second informant reported that Padilla Cramer and a fourth man were part of the job and had put up $450,000 to ship the cocaine. That second man was arrested in South Florida and persuaded to become an informant. He, in turn, gave agents four law enforcement database queries that Padilla Cramer had given him. At that point, he only knew him as “Richard.”

The queries were run off DEA, ICE and California state law enforcement databases. Padilla Cramer would ask DEA agents to run queries, telling them he needed the information for drug cases he was working on.

The cocaine shipments were made to Panama in March 2007 where undercover Panamanian police officers observed the transaction. The cocaine was put on a Greek-flagged ship and sent north, stopping in Georgia, Virginia and finally, the Port of New York two weeks later. The cocaine made it to Vigo, Spain, where it was seized and five members of the cartel were arrested.

Negotiations broke down between Padilla Cramer and the head of the trafficking organization that was looking for someone to blame for the losses in Spain. A fourth informant finally approached American law enforcement and told them he spoke with Padilla Cramer on a push-to-talk phone. On Aug. 19, the DEA arrested Padilla Cramer at his house in a gated community in Sahuarita.

On Sept. 4, a judge ordered that Padilla Cramer be sent to Florida to stand trial on drug-trafficking charges in that state, said Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami.

His connections and work in Mexico are being investigated but not his work in Arizona, said ICE spokesman, Vincent Picard.

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Comments

The Insider wrote on Sep 24, 2009 3:38 PM:

" DHS, ICE, CBP and USCIS needs a complete revamping. Although other federal agencies such as the FBI, DEA and CIA had their own corruption problems, nothing compares to the corruption at ICE and especially the old Customs offices of investigations and internal affairs. What the FBI and US Department of Justice ought to do is take away all internal affairs functions of ICE, CBP, and USCIS and if possible erase DHS period. There are still some very high questionable ICE managers and agents. When you put someone with a GED or H.S. diploma to run ICE's management and billions of taxpayers dollars only because she worked for the US Department of Justice for over 20 years....Yes, I am talking about old Theresa Bertucci....her own subordinates cannot stand her. John T. Morton needs to do something or President Obama will be calling old Janet Napolitano for some answers....but what we are seeing now is basically what we saw in the early 1980s and the reason the US Congress held hearings on the US Customs Service in 1992. "

EX-Nogalian wrote on Sep 23, 2009 1:08 PM:

" Easy to be selfrighteous when you don't know how close to home this is. Ricardo cares about his family and if he profited and was caught think about all those who have profited are still profitting and wont get caught. Doesnt it also say it didnt happen in your Nogales? "

Jose Lopez wrote on Sep 20, 2009 11:13 AM:

" Jose Lopez is not my real name. I worked for the US government as a criminal investigator, supervisor and manager of a US Customs Office of Internal Affairs. For years I sent reports of corruption and criminal activity in Arizona to the old US Customs' Internal Affairs, US Treasury's OIG, ICE-DHS, but instead of investigating the alleged corrupt employees, I became the target of numerous administrative internal investigations. Customs's IA, the Treasury's OIG spent thousands of taxpayers dollars and manpower resources in their attempt to silence me for good. DHS-OIG knows who worked with Richard Cramer. Since DHS-OIG decided to ignore my reports, DEA and DOJ-OIG are very interested in learning what I knew. Guess, this is one of the reasons gross criminal corruption at ICE by mid-top level management is increasing, because ICE-OPR and DHS-OIG are targeting low garded employees who are filing grievances, and EEO complaints. "

Stars Stripes wrote on Sep 17, 2009 5:18 PM:

" Why was this animal on a federal retirement who could make thousands with a phone call working for the cartels, working for Santa Cruz County Detention Facility? He was caught after 30 years, how many hundreds of other crimes have gone undetected? Yup, get a clue. Someone who cares about his family does not put them in this position. This was about money and greed, the same two problems which are fueling all the scum bag criminals on the border. Hopefully, the judge puts him away for the rest of his life. Too bad they can't charge him with treason. "

Reired Local Resident wrote on Sep 16, 2009 3:22 PM:

" A blind eye here-a bribe there-I think my co-worker is doing it is the mentality on the Border

No excuse for these Men/Women with Badges

For Sale to the Highest Bidder must stop and the Government needs to Act Swiftly to stop this continuing problem

The Marijuana-Drug-Illegal Alien business is very big in Nogales and everyone seems to know who is doing it-except the Law Enforcement Agencies that Can do Something About it

What happened the Millions the County and City/County Attorneys Office obtained?

Any Produce Companies Taken Down?

Any Trucking Companies Taken Down?

Any Warehousing Companies Taken Down?

Any Automobile Sales Lots Taken Down?

Money can not be the answer since millions have been allocated the the Nogales Area

Quit Turning a Bling Eye to this horrible problem Santa Cruz County/Nogales Residents "

R.G.C. wrote on Sep 16, 2009 2:28 PM:

" How many agents or C.I.'s have been removed from this earth due to the information that this person gave out. Also how many more heads are pending or involved in this case. Individuals that have made this country safe and are working to try to keep or get it clean. How many children have been exposed to the powders that were never stopped. We all make mistakes, but this one, has no excuse, and he must pay for his mistake. "

Yup wrote on Sep 15, 2009 11:30 PM:

" What do you want to do when you retire? Oh, I know...you want to spend the rest of your years behind bars, since your plans involved making money. Don't worry, you will continue to make money. Taxpayer's money to pay for your time in a cell. What a waste of education, career, knowledge, wisdom, and success. To your family, please do not leave this person uncared for, he probably wanted the best for you, but made a mistake or two. Love him and care for him, even if he is behind bars. "

Atta Boy wrote on Sep 15, 2009 4:12 PM:

" Way to go... you snooze you loose! "

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