West Texas man arrested, charged with bribing HSI special agent

EL PASO, Texas — A Texas man was arrested Feb. 16 in El Paso on criminal charges related to his alleged bribery of a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent.

Pedro Thiessen, 70, of Seminole, failed to declare more than $10,000 when entering the United States at the Ysleta Port of Entry in October 2022, according to a criminal complaint against him.

Thiessen filed a petition to recover the funds, and in January 2023, an HSI special agent interviewed him. An affidavit attached to the complaint alleges that Thiessen offered to pay the agent an unknown amount of money if the agent assisted with the recovery. The agent reported the offer to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Professional Responsibility.

The affidavit alleges that Thiessen again proposed a monetary offer to the agent during a Feb. 6 phone call. On Feb. 15, the agent arranged a meeting with Thiessen for the following day. According to court documents, Thiessen presented the agent with $1,000 at that meeting and was immediately arrested.

Thiessen is charged with bribery of public officials. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

HSI and the Office of Professional Responsibility are investigating the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Osterberg is prosecuting.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.