Border Patrol agent sentenced

A former U.S. Border Patrol agent was sentenced Friday to 36 months in federal prison for helping immigrant smugglers in exchange for cash.

Jose Olivas Jr., 46, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants and launder money. A 10-year veteran of the Border Patrol, he admitted to helping more than 100 illegal immigrants get into the U.S. from January 2006 until his arrest a year later.

Prosecutors said he pocketed as much as $15,000 from smugglers, who paid him $100 each time he agreed to act as a scout by driving past a highway checkpoint on Interstate 5 at San Clemente, about 60 miles north of San Diego.

If the checkpoint was closed, he would call the smugglers and give them an all-clear to follow with carloads of migrants.