HSI Nogales special agent pleads guilty to leaking classified documents

Nogales POE

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent pleaded guilty to all 21 counts accusing her of leaking sensitive government information to relatives involved in drug trafficking.

According to a statement by the FBI on Jan. 6, Jovana Deas, 33, of Rio Rico, AZ, admitted to abusing her position as an HSI special agent to illegally obtain and disseminate government documents classified as "Official Use Only."

Some of the sensitive information Deas leaked was later discovered on the laptop computer of her former brother-in-law by law enforcement officers in Brazil, said the FBI. The brother-in-law is associated with a drug trafficking organization in Mexico, which has ties to drug traffickers in Brazil, said the FBI.

The agency said Deas also admitted to lying to an HSI special agent about why she was making computer inquiries about a specific person who was a target of another agent.

Deas’ guilty plea included a total of seven felony violations, each punishable by up to five years in prison, and 14 misdemeanors, each punishable by up to one year in prison, said the FBI.

Deas became Customs and Border Protection officer in 2003 and was assigned to the Nogales port of entry. In 2008, she became an HSI special agent assigned to the HSI Nogales office, said the FBI.

The indictment also charges her sister, Dana Maria Samaniego Montes, 40, of Agua Prieta, Mexico with similar violations of U.S.federal law. Samaniego Montes is on the run, said the FBI and is believed to be in Mexico. She is a former Mexican law enforcement official with alleged ties to drug trafficking organizations, it said.

Deas is scheduled to be sentenced on April 11, 2012.

The investigation of Deas was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) agents at the FBI’s Southern Arizona Corruption Task Force (SACTF). SACTF agents were assisted in this investigation by agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Department’s Consular Integrity Division, and the Brazilian Federal Police.