Former Mexican police chief sentenced to 7 1/2 years for bribery

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The former police chief of the Mexican border town of Sonoyta has been sentenced to serve 7 1/2 years in federal prison for bribing a U.S. Border Patrol agent to let loads of marijuana into the country.

Ramon Robles-Cota, 33, was arrested in March 2005 while being driven to the Arizona town of Gila Bend to meet a Border Patrol agent he had earlier paid more than $80,000. The agent had reported the bribery effort and was working with investigators, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Robles-Cota and his driver, Sonoyta police officer Julio Cesar Lozano-Lopez, were charged with bribing a public official and aiding and abetting, as well as conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Lozano-Lopez was charged because he knew of the bribery effort but remained silent. He pleaded guilty in June 2006 and was sentenced to the 14 months he had been jailed.

Robles-Cota pleaded guilty in July 2007 to one count of bribery of a public official. He was sentenced in Tucson Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge John M. Roll.