Agent sentenced for aiding illegal entry

LOS ANGELES — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent convicted of helping a Mexican citizen who is a felon to illegally re-enter the country was sentenced Monday to one year and one day in prison, officials said.

Felix Cisneros Jr., 44, was convicted in April of four felony counts, including conspiracy to aid and assist the entry into the U.S. of a Mexican convicted of an aggravated felony, falsifying records in a federal investigation and making false statements.

Cisneros is an 11-year veteran of the immigration enforcement agency and has been suspended indefinitely from the agency, the Department of Justice said. As an agent, Cisneros worked undercover and investigated money laundering as well as human and narcotics trafficking, according to court records.

The man Cisneros helped — Santiago Garcia-Gutierrez — was a lawful permanent resident of the United States, but he had been barred from legally entering the country because of criminal convictions and an outstanding warrant for his arrest from the Burbank Police Department, court documents show.

In 2013, Cisneros helped Garcia-Gutierrez retrieve his passport and enter the U.S. by convincing a Los Angles airport customs agent that he was a confidential informant, according to a federal affidavit. He interceded again later that year so that Garcia-Gutierrez could re-enter the country after a second trip to Mexico.

Cisneros accepted Dodgers playoff tickets from GarciaGutierrez in exchange for his help, court records show.

AP/Sun Journal/ANDREE KEHN A city worker uses a leaf blower on a parking lot Monday in Auburn, Maine. Now that the state’s peak foliage-viewing period is over, the process of clearing away the fallen leaves is in full swing.