DRUG DRONE OPERATOR SENTENCED; JUST WANTED POT

Case was first drone drug-smuggling seizure along the Southwest border

By Kristina Davis

The San Diego Union-Tribune
April 21, 2016

San Diego -- Brayan Valle was looking to buy some marijuana. When he reached out to a business associate of his uncle’s, a drug connection, Valle became involved in a much more serious — and novel — offense. Rather than sell him the marijuana, the associate asked for Valle’s help to smuggle drugs over the U.S.-Mexico border by drone.

The case signals the first drone drug-smuggling seizure along the Southwest border.

On Thursday, Valle, now 21, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in operating the drone remote control and loading up 30 pounds of heroin dropped into a Calexico-area field on April 28.

“Use of drones appear to be on the horizon,” U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel said before declaring the sentence. “The court needs to be clear these cases present considerable danger to our community.”

Authorities say law enforcement have since then intercepted at least two more drone drug loads, including one near Yuma, Ariz., that netted about 30 pounds of marijuana in January. Doubts have been raised, however, as to how popular the smuggling method might become due to the small amount of drugs a drone can carry.

In Valle’s case, it took hours for the drone to make four drops over the border fence, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Hobson.

It started when Valle approached his uncle’s friend about obtaining some marijuana, said Valle’s defense lawyer, Kathryn Thickstun. The friend instead suggested helping him smuggle marijuana over the border in exchange for some.

Valle agreed but later tried to back out, Thickstun said. She said he was told he had no choice in the matter.

Valle recruited a friend from high school he’d only known a month, Jonathan Elias, to drive him to and from the drop-off point, a field. The smugglers provided Valle with cellphones to coordinate the transaction via the encrypted WhatsApp messaging application, as well as the drone remote control, which would allow Valle to release the drugs from the drone’s claw, prosecutors said.

For hours in a field about a half-mile from the border, Valle collected the bubble-wrapped drugs, which he thought were marijuana packages but turned out to be heroin. He filled a backpack to capacity. He was observed by Border Patrol agents loading it into Elias’ trunk on Highway 98 before being caught.

Both Valle and Elias pleaded guilty to possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

The prosecutor said Valle’s role in pulling off the smuggling should not be minimized, while Valle’s lawyer said Mexican drug traffickers had taken advantage of a “young, malleable, impressionable man who was looking to buy a small quantity of drugs.”

The judge noted Valle’s criminal record, which includes a battery conviction and reports of making violent threats to his ex-girlfriend, were a factor in the decision to sentence him to custody.

Elias is to be sentenced June 3.