3 cops under 'America's Toughest Sheriff' Joe Arpaio, busted for role in
drug & human smuggling ring

BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Three Arizona cops smuggled drugs and humans and laundered money for a
vast narco-trafficking ring, all under the nose of the self-proclaimed
"America's toughest sheriff," authorities said.

One of the moles, a female corrections officer, was carrying the love
child of a cartel capitán, and all three were accused of leaking
sheriff's office tips to help the ring guide smugglers, drugs and cash
through the area from Mexico, authorities said.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Deputy Alfredo Navarette, 37,
and two corrections officers, Sylvia Najera, 25, and Marcella Hernandez,
28, were among 12 people rounded up in Tuesday's sting.

The early morning raids capped a year-long investigation into the ring,
which is suspected of funneling loads of heroin into the Valley area
west of Phoenix.

Navarette, a 10-year veteran of Arpaio's anti-human smuggling unit, was
arrested when he showed up for work, and a sweep of his apartment found
two illegal immigrants hiding there.

Arpaio said Hernandez was eight-months pregnant with the child of
Francisco Arce-Torres, the operation's ringleader, who has ties to
Mexico's notorious Sinaloa cartel.

She and Najera were busted on their way to work at the county's largest
jail, and cops said Hernandez had nearly $20,000 on her.

The arrests were a blow to the tough-talking Sheriff Arpaio, who has
been resisting calls to step down amid allegations of corruption,
misspending and racial profiling in his office.

"We have enough violence without having moles in my own organization
that put my deputies in danger," Arpaio said.

The smuggling ring moved $56,000 of heroin into the area each week, cops
said, and each of the dirty cops played a crucial role in keeping the
operation underground.

Arce-Torres, the Phoenix-based ringleader, coordinated smugglers through
the valley from his family's heroin operation in Mexico.

The smack was stashed and cut at two drophouses run by Hernandez, the
Arizona Republic reported.

Investigators said Navarette fortified Acre-Torres' house with
surveillance cameras, registered cars for the gang and harbored runners
at his house.

Meanwhile, Navarette and Najera, the other corrections officer, set up a
shell company to launder dirty drug money, the paper said.

All three are accused of using dozens of other tactics to help the ring
dodge the law.

Navarette, in particular, used his anti-trafficking expertise to
doublecross his own department.

"He repeatedly supplied details about the illegal-immigration
crime-suppression operation to leaders of the drug-trafficking
organization," Arpaio said.

Navarette was booked on conspiracy, money laundering and human smuggling
charges. His bail was set at $1 million.

Hernandez was booked on similar charges and had bail set at $2 million,
while Najera faced money-laundering and other charges.

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