AZMEX UPDATE 9-11-12

AZMEX UPDATE 9 NOV 2012

Inbox Warning:  There is a backlog of AZMEX items of varying interest.  Prepare your inboxes. 

Note:  Some may remember this case.

Mexican judge: Trucker can go free after paying fine

By Lorena Figueroa \ El Paso Times

Posted:   11/09/2012 02:18:42 AM MST

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_21961407/mexican-judge-trucker-can-go-free-after-paying  

JUAREZ -- A U.S. truck driver who entered Juárez with a truckload of ammunition in April is expected to be released soon.

Jabin Akeem Bogan, 27, of Dallas, is expected to be released from a prison in Veracruz after he pays a fine of about $1,500, the federal judge who oversees the case said Thursday.

"After that happens, he will be immediately released," said Judge Carlos Miguel García Treviño of the Fifth District Court.

Bogan said he made a wrong turn and did not mean to go into Mexico with the ammunition. 

Bogan's girlfriend, Tania Davis, seemed surprised when asked if she was aware that Bogan could be released from prison soon.

"I do not have any comment. But the fine is $5,000, not $1,500," she said over the telephone from Dallas.

García Treviño said the fine is part of Bogan's sentence, which also includes three years of supervised release. It is unclear how Bogan will be supervised in México.

García Treviño said that he sentenced Bogan on Sept. 12 on a charge of possession of ammunition.

Although the charge has a punishment of up to six years in prison, the judge sentenced Bogan to half that time, which made it possible under Mexican law to finish his sentence outside prison with the payment of a fine.

The charge of possession of ammunition resulted after a federal magistrate court in August threw out a harsher charge of trafficking, which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison with no possibility of supervised release.

Federal prosecutors tried to appeal Bogan's sentence, but the same court upheld it on Oct. 30, García Treviño said.

Officials from the Attorney General's office in Juárez could not be reached for comment.

"Now, the future of Bogan is up to his lawyers," García Treviño said.

Bogan's lawyer in México, Emilio de la Rosa, said that as of Thursday, he had not been officially informed of the magistrate court's ruling. He declined to comment further.

Bogan has been in a maximum security federal prison in Villa Aldama, Veracruz, about 200 miles east Mexico City. He was sent to that prison a couple of days after his arrest on April 17.

Mexican authorities arrested Bogan after he crossed the Bridge of the Americas with 268,000 rounds of ammunition -- mostly .308 and .223 caliber rounds -- inside the container of the 18-wheeler he was driving.

Bogan's family and lawyers have said that the trucker made a mistake when he took a wrong exit on Loop 375 toward the international bridge because he was lost.

They have said that Bogan tried to return to the U.S. but that vehicle traffic at the bridge prevented him from doing so without having to cross to the Mexican Customs' inspection area in Juárez.

Bogan's employer, Demco Trans Inc. in Dallas, has said that the ammunition was a legitimate cargo that the trucker was supposed to deliver to a wholesaler in Phoenix the day after he was arrested.

Lorena Figueroa may be reached at lfigueroa@elpasotimes.com; 546-6129.