Ex-agent cites prison risks to convicted federal lawmen

A former U.S. Border Patrol agent sent to prison for 24 months for violating the civil rights of a Mexican national caught crossing illegally into the United States says three other lawmen convicted by the same federal prosecutor face “real danger” in prison when other inmates find out who they are.

Gary M. Brugman, who served time at the Federal Detention Center in Yazoo City, Miss., after his 2002 conviction by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in San Antonio, told The Washington Times he made a vest of newspapers and duct tape and wrapped magazines around his waist everyday to protect himself from being stabbed by other inmates.

“Every morning, I would wake up and ask myself if I was really there,” said Mr. Brugman, released from prison last March. “I still have a very hard time accepting what happened. It’s extremely hard to find a time and place to cry when you’re a grown man in prison.”

Mr. Brugman, a nine-year U.S. Coast Guard veteran, was housed at Yazoo City for nine months the same facility where former Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos is held. Ramos was assaulted Feb. 3 by inmates who learned his identity after watching “America’s Most Wanted.”

Ramos, 37, and Jose Alonso Compean, 28, were sentenced in January to 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks after he abandoned 743 pounds of marijuana on the border near Fabens, Texas. Compean is housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton, Ohio.

Edwards County, Texas, Deputy Sheriff Guillermo “Gilmer” Hernandez was convicted by Mr. Sutton in December for shooting at a truck loaded with illegal aliens after the driver tried to run him down. He faces sentencing Monday, when he could receive up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said he violated the civil rights of an illegal alien in the van when a metal fragment hit her in the lip.

“Having served the government for many years, I experienced many things that scared me. But being a federal agent in prison was sheer terror,” Mr. Brugman said. “The inmates have ways of finding out who you are and knowing all of the details about your case by the time you arrive.

“I know exactly what Ramos and Compean are going through and what Hernandez faces,” he said.

Mr. Brugman was indicted in January 2001 on charges of using unreasonable force “under the color of law” while trying to detain Miguel Angel Jimenez-Saldana, an illegal alien who sought with nine others to cross the border through a pecan orchard near Eagle Pass, Texas on the Rio Grande about 150 miles southwest of San Antonio.

Accused of pushing the man to the ground with his foot, Brugman pleaded not guilty at a jury trial in October 2002, but was convicted in a case argued by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baumann, the same man who prosecuted Hernandez.

In prosecuting the three agents and the deputy, Mr. Sutton said law-enforcement officials must be held to the same legal standards as everyone else.

But Mr. Brugman questioned why a convicted drug smuggler that he arrested in the same border location six weeks later was called as a witness in his case. Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Silva was escorted by U.S. marshals to the Texas court to testify saying Brugman broke his nose during a fight in February 2001 when the agent sought to arrest him for bringing marijuana into the United States.

Although the incident was reported by Mr. Brugman and Rodriguez-Silva never filed a complaint against the agent, the Mexican national was a key government witness.

Court records show that Rodriguez-Silva was among a group of six to eight people spotted on infrared cameras at about 5 a.m. carrying bundles into the United States, all of whom scattered when they were approached by agents, including Mr. Brugman.

“We had caught four when the camera operator notified me that two others were hunkered down in the brush not too far away,” Mr. Brugman said. “Once they figured out that I could see them, they took off running towards the river. I gave chase and continuously yelled for them to stop.

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