USDA Officer Admits Allowing Infested Ag Goods into US

Now how safe is this nation's food-supply chain? A USDA plant protection and quarantine officer stationed in Laredo, Texas, has admitted to illegally allowing agricultural products infested with a plant pest to enter the United States from Mexico since 2005.

According to the Department of Justice, Jose Homero Reyes, 48, pleaded guilty to three charges of conspiracy in failing to perform USDA-required fumigation of infested agricultural products before allowing them to enter the United States.

Trucks entering the U.S. from Mexico through Laredo determined to be carrying products infested with a plant pest are required by law to have their contents fumigated before leaving Laredo. A plant protection and quarantine officer, like Reyes, must be present at the time of the fumigation and present documentation of the process to the USDA. Since the fumigations typically take place after-hours, the quarantine officers are paid overtime for their work. Not only did Reyes admit to conspiring with a Laredo pest control service to falsify results of non-existent fumigations, he charged taxpayers overtime for his "service."

"As part of his guilty plea, Reyes admitted he provided consent to the freight forwarding company/customs broker, allowing the trucks carrying agricultural products infested with a plant pest to leave Laredo, knowing that the agricultural products were not properly fumigated. Reyes would also falsely claim overtime for hours he never worked in addition to submitting false written reports to the USDA falsely documenting the fumigation results," stated the Justice Department in a press release.

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