A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer and his girlfriend were arrested in Douglas this week after an investigation by a drug-trafficking task force.
CBP officer James Anthony Galino and Gabriela Arias were arrested Monday and booked into the Cochise County Jail on multiple charges, including child abuse, computer tampering and weapons misconduct.
The arrests came after the regionβs multi-county Counter-Narcotics and Trafficking Alliance executed a search warrant, following an investigation into the couple, the Cochise County Sheriffβs Office said in a news release.
Galino was charged with multiple counts of domestic violence/child abuse, one count of weapons misconduct and five counts of computer tampering. Arias was also charged with multiple counts of domestic violence/child abuse, as well as possession of narcotics, drug paraphernalia and marijuana, and one count of weapons misconduct, the office said.
CBP confirmed the arrest of an officer and said any further details should come from the Cochise County Sheriffβs Office.
βCBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe,β CBP spokesman John Mennell said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. βWe do not tolerate corruption or abuse within our ranks, and we cooperate fully with all criminal or administrative investigations of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, whether it occurs on or off duty.β
The arrest comes less than a month after the aggravated-assault arrest of another CBP employee, Timothy Sullivan, 48, in late November.
Sullivan, a civilian employee in CBPβs Tucson Sector since 2021, was charged with aggravated assault, endangerment and other domestic violence-related offenses after Marana police responded to a domestic dispute.
Police arrived around 8 p.m. on Nov. 20 to find Sullivan firing shots inside and outside a residence, a Marana Police Department release said. He was detained without injury to officers or the public, and was booked into the Pima County Jail, the release said.
