I received this news article from Bonnie Childress (Buddinman) today.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5898444.html
Border produce scam may spark harmful ripple effect
LAREDO The shot from a .45-caliber handgun thundered through the faded house trailer in this border town, and a federal inspector fell dead.
Rafael Edmundo Melo Jr., 40, killed himself the day after appearing in federal court to face charges that he had allowed truckloads of vegetables and flowers infested with harmful pests to enter the United States from Mexico without proper fumigation.
While the death of the veteran plant inspector brought pain and sadness to his family, the conspiracy with which he and two other U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors were accused had the potential to cause further damage to the nation's agricultural industry.
The scheme, which went on at least three years and ended when the defendants were arrested in April, could have decimated dozens of Texas agricultural industries, government and industry officials say. Some experts believe the effects of the tainted shipments could still harm crops.
"It's a big deal," said Ray Prewett, president of Texas Citrus Mutual in McAllen and executive vice president of the Texas Vegetable Association.
Melo and the two other USDA inspectors were also charged with filing fraudulent overtime payments, claiming they oversaw fumigations of infested shipments that were conducted improperly or never took place. Charges were also brought against the owner of a Laredo pest control company accused of improperly billing Mexican exporters for fumigation services.
Since the charges were announced in April, two of the defendants have pleaded guilty and a third maintains his innocence. Melo was charged with 15 counts, according to the indictment, and faced a maximum of 75 years in prison.
Prewett noted that Mexico, which exports large amounts of limes and lemons, has confirmed that two insects known to introduce disease to citrus have been found in the country's groves. South Texas is the home of a thriving grapefruit and orange industry that generates $80 million annually for growers and packers.
"We find this to be disturbing, and we are concerned about what the implications are," Prewett said of the Laredo scheme. ''There are lots of other ways we can get these (pest) problems from Mexico, but it's a major concern when you have this kind of fraud in your inspection system."
The power of a pest
The full extent of the scheme has not been revealed. But a federal indictment cited seven shipments in January and March of more than 2.5 million floral cuttings and 28,000 pounds of raw broccoli that were improperly fumigated. When the charges were unsealed in a Laredo federal court in April, a prosecutor told the judge that cabbage and other foods were also involved.
"People across the country ate those plant products infested with plant pests because of the crimes the defendants committed," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Sheldon, according to press accounts.
Melissa O'Dell, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service, said the border inspector's job is to make sure foreign pests do not threaten U.S. agriculture.
"If a pest that we're concerned about a foreign pest entered the U.S. and became established before we catch it, it can cause devastating damage to our agricultural crops and disrupt trade," O'Dell said. "We do everything in our power to keep it out."
Citing a request by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, O'Dell declined to specify the number of fumigations conducted in Laredo and along the Southwest border while the criminal case is pending.
Plant shipments entering the country from Mexico at Laredo are screened by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the city's five border stations and its airport, said CBP official Mucia Dovalina.
If a harmful pest is discovered by the CBP's 55 agricultural specialists, the broker for the Mexican shipper is given the choice of returning the produce or paying to have it fumigated under USDA supervision. In cases where a particularly harmful pest is found, the entire shipment must be destroyed, Dovalina said.
In addition to fumigation costs, which average $600, the Mexican shipper must pay overtime charges for USDA inspectors. Such fees are common because many of the shipments reach the border after 4 p.m, when USDA inspectors typically go home for the day.
The CBP in Laredo maintains a list of 28 harmful pests and diseases that require the return, fumigation, or destruction of the plants that carry them.
The entry of an unknown harmful pest is a troubling thought to government experts.
"The next thing we know, there would be an outbreak," Dovalina said. ''Before we stop the damage it caused, it may cost us millions of dollars to eradicate it."
But Dovalina said none of the pests identified in the recent scheme "have the potential to be harmful to humans."
Two of the three defendants are awaiting sentencing by a federal judge. Earlier this month, Jose Homero Reyes, 48, a USDA inspector, pleaded guilty to three counts against him, including allowing infested agricultural products to enter the country in violation of the U.S. Plant Protection Act. Originally charged with 11 counts, Reyes is set to be sentenced in September and could face up to 15 years in prison.
Last month, Laredo resident Arturo Ramirez, the 46-year-old owner of Ambush Exterminators, pleaded guilty to six counts, including conspiring with others to improperly fumigate plants. Ramirez, originally charged with 19 counts, will also be sentenced in September and could face up to 30 years.
Former USDA inspector Robert Perez, a 35-year-old former USDA inspector, plans to fight the charges against him, his lawyer said. "We're going to present our evidence in court and let the jury decide," said his San Antonio lawyer, Albert M. Gutierrez.
Larry Sauer, an Austin attorney representing Reyes, said, "As far as I know, there's no documentation of damage being done by these products being brought into the U.S."
There are also no indications that the Laredo shipments were involved in the salmonella outbreak that began in April and sickened 1,200 people, including 474 in Texas.
Making sense of tragedy
Relatives of inspector Melo are still trying to fathom why he chose to take his own life.
Sara Melo, the inspector's mother, drove from her home in Houston to post her son's bond after his arrest. After he was released April 18, she and her son's girlfriend drove him to the trailer where he was living on Laredo's east side.
The two women, waiting in a bedroom for him to shower and change clothes, heard a loud bang. At first, Sara Melo thought one of her son's dogs knocked over some furniture.
"But when I got near the bathroom, I could smell the gunpowder. I saw him from a distance," she said. ''I didn't have the courage to look at him up close."
Sara Melo said her son separated from his second wife this year and that the two had a son. Melo had three children from an earlier marriage.
"I think he felt very desperate because of everything that was happening," his mother said. "He was going to have to support three households, and he didn't have a job."
