Last week we wrote about two border agents sentenced to 11 and 12 years respectively for shooting a pot smuggler and an ensuing cover-up at the border.

In an unrelated case today, a federal judge sentenced two veteran border patrol agents to six years each for bribery in an immigrant smuggling scam.

Mario Alvarez and Samuel McClaren released smugglers and their customers from jail while working on a prisoner transfer program with the Mexican government. They once released a prisoner in a Wal-Mart parking lot for a fee of $6,000, according to court documents.

The agents, based in El Centro, once smuggled two illegal immigrants across the border themselves in a government vehicle and released them for cash, according to court documents. They turned over the location of surveillance cameras and other Border Patrol intelligence to smugglers.

Total amount of the bribes received by the agents: $180,000.00. According to the Justice Department: