A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced Friday to 23 years in prison after he accepted bribes to allow undocumented migrants and illegal drugs to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson handed down the sentence after a jury convicted Leonard Darnell George, 42, earlier this year of receiving a bribe as a public official, conspiring to import methamphetamine and two counts of conspiring to bring undocumented migrants to the U.S. George joined CBP in 2018 after previously working for CoreCivic, the private prison company that operates the Otay Mesa Detention Center. “Public corruption as in this case is the betrayal of trust that erodes the foundation of the very principals of law enforcement and undermines the public’s perception of those held to a higher standard,” Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge for Homeland Security investigations in San Diego, said in a news release Friday. In a sentencing memo filed with the court last week, George’s attorney, Antonio Yoon, said his client — a U.S. Navy veteran and married father of four — did not know or have control over the amount or purity of the drugs brought in. “As the Bible teaches us, justice must be tempered with mercy,” Yoon said in the memo. The court ultimately rejected Yoon’s argument that 10 years in prison would have been a sufficient sentence. Federal prosecutors told a jury earlier this year that George began committing his crimes after he met two smugglers at Hong Kong Gentleman’s Club, a Tijuana strip club known for offering prostitution, in fall 2021. In exchange for cash, George told the smugglers when he was working and what lane he was on at the vehicle crossing for entry into the United States from Mexico, prosecutors said. A plea deal by one of George’s co-defendants said the smugglers would send four or five vehicles loaded with drugs or undocumented migrants through George’s lane during every shift he worked. The co-defendant also estimated about 300 undocumented migrants entered the U.S. through George’s lane. Prosecutors said George became known as the “The Goalie” among traffickers, and he netted around $300,000 to $400,000 by allowing traffickers to cross the border at least 19 times between October 2021 and June 2022. George used the bribe money to pay for vehicles, motorcycles and jewelry, prosecutors said. During regular visits to the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club, he spent about $5,000 per trip and was seen “showering” money over the club’s dancers, prosecutors said. At one point during the trial, prosecutors demonstrated George’s connection to the criminal operation by showing a photo of one of the traffickers wearing George’s CBP uniform jacket, officials said. Prosecutors also showed text messages and audio recordings between George’s wife and a high-level member of the drug-trafficking group discussing her husband’s payment.