Douglas customs officer fined $150 on human-smuggling charge

A customs officer in Douglas was ordered Monday to pay a $150 fine after admitting he assisted in an illegal border crossing.

Douglas Annino pleaded guilty on Monday to a misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting an illegal entry at the Douglas port of entry in 2012, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

The plea agreement states Annino ran an unnamed person’s Mexican passport behind, rather than through, a document reader at the port. A handwritten notation on the plea documents adds “or did not respond to an invalid travel document notice.”

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Annino was sentenced the same day he entered his plea. Annino will spend no time in prison and will pay a $150 fine. He also agreed to resign from Customs and Border Protection, court records show.

Annino was indicted in 2017, about one week before the statute of limitations would have expired, court records show.

His attorney, Joy Bertrand, unsuccessfully asked the court to dismiss the charges because the witness to the alleged incident, who was the only one who could refute the allegations, had died.