A U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly displayed his handgun multiple times at a coffee shop in Edinburg, records show.
Just after 8 a.m. Tuesday, an employee of the Coffee Zone in the 1100 block of South McColl Road in Edinburg called police to report a man, later identified as David Rodriguez Saldivar, who the employee witnessed pull out a gun several times, the probable cause affidavit against Saldivar stated.
The employee said that after Saldivar’s third visit into the store, he pulled out the gun and “never put it away, causing (the employee) to be uncomfortable,” the document stated.
A short while later, an Edinburg police officer approached Saldivar, who was seated in his vehicle in the store’s parking lot.
“… While interviewing Saldivar (the officer) observed (Saldivar) to display the following symptoms of intoxication,” including slurred speech, unsteady balance, slow movements, the document states.
At one point the officer requested Saldivar submit to a breath test but Saldivar refused.
“(The officer) … applied for and obtained a blood search warrant from Edinburg Municipal Court Judge Toribio “Terry” Palacios,” the document stated.
The blood sample was submitted to a lab for analysis.
Saldivar also admitted to the police officer to taking Xanax, a controlled substance, used to treat among other things, anxiety.
The agent, who U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed Wednesday is an employee with Border Patrol in the Laredo sector, also gave the police officer consent to search his vehicle and a black bag that ultimately resulted in the discovery of a handgun, “a 9mm black Glock 19 Generation 5,” and “a bottle of Farmapram which contained 13 white rectangular pills,” the PC affidavit stated.
The 42-year-old Edinburg native was formally charged with driving while intoxicated, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful carrying weapons, Tuesday morning and released on a $15,000 personal recognizance bond, jail records show.
If convicted of the Class A misdemeanors, the unlawful carrying of weapons, and the possession of a controlled substance charges, Saldivar faces up to one year in county jail on each charge, and up to 180 days in jail for the DWI charge, and a fine maximum of $4,000.
CBP did not respond to questions about the length of Saldivar’s tenure with Border Patrol, or if he had been suspended or disciplined in connection with the above allegations, but instead relayed a message about integrity among their employees in the agency.
“CBP 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,” the release from CBP stated.
But border security experts point out that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CBP, and Border Patrol agencies routinely fall dead last in the federal government’s annual “morale survey.”
CBP and Border Patrol have been at the bottom with regard to employee morale and a roughly more than 5% turnover per year rate, since the introduction of the survey in 2007, according to the agency’s most recent discipline statistics.
In fiscal year 2018, CBP fired, or “removed,” 68 officers, based on the most recent data on disciplinary action within the agency. Additionally in 2018, another 173 CBP officers retired or resigned as a result of an “agency-wide” action or investigation, the data stated.
Saldivar is the second CBP employee in as many weeks to be arrested in the Rio Grande Valley.
Last week, Juan Pablo Quintanilla surrendered to police in Mission after he was implicated as a result of an outcry made by a minor child and her family.
Quintanilla, 42, of Mission, faces three counts of indecency with child, sexual contact, related to an outcry made by the victim and her family.
According to the criminal complaint against Quintanilla, authorities spoke with the victim who told of at least three instances during which Quintanilla allegedly touched the minor at her home during a three-month period beginning sometime in August 2020, through November 2020.
He was booked into county jail Jan. 21 and released on a $90,000 bond the same day, jail officials stated. If convicted of the charges, all second degree charges, Quintanilla faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. As with Saldivar, it is not known if Quintanilla faces any disciplinary action related to the accusations.
