Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit
07-30-13, 12:09 PM
#1
Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit
Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit
If a college student is caught smuggling drugs across the border, one might think the kid got what was coming to him. But when a Mexican student at the University of Texas in El Paso was caught by Border Patrol agents with duffel bags filled with marijuana in his trunk, the man used a classic excuse: He claimed they weren't his.
While a claim like that is almost unbelievable, Ricardo Magallanes, the student, is now suing Ford for handling its vehicles' key codes negligently enough to allow drug smugglers to break into his Ford Focus and stash the drugs, The Daily Caller reports. The twist here is that four other people who lived in Juarez and worked in El Paso were involved in the same type of scheme – allegedly unwittingly, just like Magallanes – and all the cars were Fords except one model from General Motors. FBI agents also found an employee at a Dallas Ford dealership that had accessed the key codes to all four of the cannabis-stuffed Fords.
While we all may not own Fords, the case still causes us slight paranoia. We'll definitely be checking our trunks before we cross any more international borders.
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/30/f...-mule-lawsuit/
07-30-13, 06:06 PM
#3
In order to obtain those codes you have to actually go to the dealer with ID and proof of ownership. It's not like they give that away over the phone. Ford customer service does not even have access to that information. This seems like a scam to me.
07-30-13, 07:11 PM
#4
Moderator: LFA, Clubhouse
While a claim like that is almost unbelievable, Ricardo Magallanes, the student, is now suing Ford for handling its vehicles' key codes negligently enough to allow drug smugglers to break into his Ford Focus and stash the drugs, The Daily Caller reports. The twist here is that four other people who lived in Juarez and worked in El Paso were involved in the same type of scheme – allegedly unwittingly, just like Magallanes – and all the cars were Fords except one model from General Motors. FBI agents also found an employee at a Dallas Ford dealership that had accessed the key codes to all four of the cannabis-stuffed Fords.
07-30-13, 09:40 PM
#5
I must say that is pretty damn clever if its true.
We need somebody who crosses the Mexican border regularly to chime in on how cars are checked entering from Mexico to the US.
I'd imagine that the drug cartel would target somebody who commutes across the border daily. See when Bob drives home, I'm sure Dave the border patrol agent recognizes Bob and his car. Dave sees Bob every day, knows who he is, knows he works in Juarez, knows he's a good guy just driving home from work. Bob has probably been background checked, profiled, employment verified in Juarez, address verified in the US, etc, etc, etc. Dave knows all about Bob and his usual routine, so Dave doesn't consider Bob to be a threat, and probably will not pull his car over to be sniffed, scanned, searched, etc.
Its ingenious from the cartel's point of view, because there is no risk for one of the mules to get arrested at the border, caught red handed. Then he snitches on everybody, then he ends up dead, then the police are investigating, bribes have to be paid for the police to look the other way, then if the cops do their job other people in the cartel are implicated, arrested, prosecuted, etc.
We need somebody who crosses the Mexican border regularly to chime in on how cars are checked entering from Mexico to the US.
I'd imagine that the drug cartel would target somebody who commutes across the border daily. See when Bob drives home, I'm sure Dave the border patrol agent recognizes Bob and his car. Dave sees Bob every day, knows who he is, knows he works in Juarez, knows he's a good guy just driving home from work. Bob has probably been background checked, profiled, employment verified in Juarez, address verified in the US, etc, etc, etc. Dave knows all about Bob and his usual routine, so Dave doesn't consider Bob to be a threat, and probably will not pull his car over to be sniffed, scanned, searched, etc.
Its ingenious from the cartel's point of view, because there is no risk for one of the mules to get arrested at the border, caught red handed. Then he snitches on everybody, then he ends up dead, then the police are investigating, bribes have to be paid for the police to look the other way, then if the cops do their job other people in the cartel are implicated, arrested, prosecuted, etc.
07-31-13, 05:18 AM
#6
Lexus Test Driver
I must say that is pretty damn clever if its true.
We need somebody who crosses the Mexican border regularly to chime in on how cars are checked entering from Mexico to the US.
I'd imagine that the drug cartel would target somebody who commutes across the border daily. See when Bob drives home, I'm sure Dave the border patrol agent recognizes Bob and his car. Dave sees Bob every day, knows who he is, knows he works in Juarez, knows he's a good guy just driving home from work. Bob has probably been background checked, profiled, employment verified in Juarez, address verified in the US, etc, etc, etc. Dave knows all about Bob and his usual routine, so Dave doesn't consider Bob to be a threat, and probably will not pull his car over to be sniffed, scanned, searched, etc.
Its ingenious from the cartel's point of view, because there is no risk for one of the mules to get arrested at the border, caught red handed. Then he snitches on everybody, then he ends up dead, then the police are investigating, bribes have to be paid for the police to look the other way, then if the cops do their job other people in the cartel are implicated, arrested, prosecuted, etc.
We need somebody who crosses the Mexican border regularly to chime in on how cars are checked entering from Mexico to the US.
I'd imagine that the drug cartel would target somebody who commutes across the border daily. See when Bob drives home, I'm sure Dave the border patrol agent recognizes Bob and his car. Dave sees Bob every day, knows who he is, knows he works in Juarez, knows he's a good guy just driving home from work. Bob has probably been background checked, profiled, employment verified in Juarez, address verified in the US, etc, etc, etc. Dave knows all about Bob and his usual routine, so Dave doesn't consider Bob to be a threat, and probably will not pull his car over to be sniffed, scanned, searched, etc.
Its ingenious from the cartel's point of view, because there is no risk for one of the mules to get arrested at the border, caught red handed. Then he snitches on everybody, then he ends up dead, then the police are investigating, bribes have to be paid for the police to look the other way, then if the cops do their job other people in the cartel are implicated, arrested, prosecuted, etc.
The cartels don't care if one person or another is the one, as long as they know 90% of their loot is getting through.
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