Agent says smuggler tried to deliver drugs multiple times

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 11/30/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

The day Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was shot in the buttocks while running back to Mexico in 2005 was not the last time he was chased by the Border Patrol and not the last time he delivered drugs in the United States that year, a witness said at a hearing Thursday.

Robert Holguin, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, testified that three men had identified Aldrete as a habitual drug smuggler.

Two of these men were referred to only as "Source 2," a drug smuggler, and "Source 3," a friend not involved in drug smuggling. They allegedly told DEA investigators that Aldrete tried, unsuccessfully, to smuggle marijuana on Sept. 24, 2005, and again, successfully, on Oct. 22, 2005.

"Davila's friend stated that Davila stated he was a transporter for a smuggling ring," Agent Holguin said during a bond hearing for Aldrete on Thursday.

According to Agent Holguin's sworn testimony, Aldrete continued to smuggle drugs, despite his medical condition and his deal with the U.S. government.