Document reveals wounded man involved in other drug deal

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:03/01/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

Eight months after he was shot in the buttocks by two former El Paso Border Patrol agents, a Mexican drug smuggler delivered $1 million worth of marijuana to a stash house in El Paso County, according to an investigative report by the Drug Enforcement Administration now in possession of a California congressman.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., had a news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and held a redacted copy of the document up for reporters but did not pass out copies. Rohrabacher said he had been asked by the Justice Department not to do so because the report contained sensitive information.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton had repeatedly denied that the smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, had been arrested again after he was shot in the buttocks by agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean in February 2005 during a botched smuggling attempt near Fabens. Rohrabacher said it was technically correct because Davila was not arrested, but said Sutton was playing with words.

"They call that lying when you're not a lawyer," he said.