How did the corruption case of Michael Gilliland start?
The Michael Gilliland case started in June 2004, when we received information about a corrupt inspector at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry [in San Diego] from a confidential informant. It wasn’t specific. It didn’t name Michael Gilliland by name nor did it name any particular smugglers by name. The allegation simply was that there is an official at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry matching a certain description, which they provided, and [the official] is working with the smuggling organization. Starting there, we began to investigate who that might be, and slowly, we started coloring in the dots. Unbeknownst to us, DHSOIG [Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General] also had an investigation going on. They also received an allegation in June 2004; so those two investigations were running concurrently. Over time, we started filling in pieces to the puzzle, but it wasn’t until November 2005, when we received yet a third allegation of corruption at Otay Mesa, that a lot of pieces
