Ex-Border Agent’s Wife Pleads Guilty In Smuggling Scheme

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A woman has pleaded guilty in El Paso to her role in helping people enter the country illegally as part of a scheme that also involved her husband, a supervisor with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Federal authorities say 39-year-old Odet Madrid-Corchado pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple charges that include conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain.

Court records show Madrid-Corchado conspired with her husband, Lawrence Madrid, to collect smuggling fees in 2010 and 2011 after helping Mexican nationals illegally enter the U.S. through ports of entry.

She's scheduled to be sentenced in April.

Her husband was sentenced in September to more than 7 years in prison.

Authorities are searching for a third person involved in the scheme.