SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two Customs and Border Protection officers pleaded guilty this month to allowing vehicles filled with illegal drugs to enter the U.S. from Mexico, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The pair texted “a secret emoji-based code” to let Mexican traffickers know which inspection lanes they were manning at the Tecate and Otay Mesa border crossings, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. Prosecutors said when the drug-laden vehicles arrived, the officers would wave them through.

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Officers Jesse Clark Garcia, 37, and Diego Bonillo, 30, each pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy to import controlled substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin, the statement says.

As part of his plea deal, Bonillo admitted that he allowed at least 165 pounds (75 kilograms) of fentanyl to enter the country, prosecutors said.

The defendants “profited handsomely, funding both domestic and international trips as well as purchases of luxury items and attempts to purchase real estate in Mexico,” the statement says.

Garcia’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26, and Bonillo will be sentenced Nov. 7. They could each face a maximum sentence of life in prison, prosecutors said.

A day after falling to 3-6 since the all-star game, and six back in the American League wild card race, the Twins sent starter Chris Paddack to Detroit for prospect Enrique Jimenez, a major league source told the Pioneer Press.

The Twins also sent the Tigers right-hander Randy Dobnak, who has been a fixture at Class AAA St. Paul since recovering from a hand injury that derailed his major league career.

Jimenez, 19, is a Venezuelan catcher who has hit .255 with 10 home runs and 68 RBIs in the Puerto Rico summer league and Tigers rookie ball.

Paddack, 29, pitched in just 24 games in three seasons after being acquired from San Diego in 2021. He had a second Tommy John surgery in 2022, and this season has made 21 starts, going 3-9 with a 4.95 earned-run average.

He was one of six Twins playing on an expiring contract this season.

The major league trade deadline is 5 p.m. CDT on Thursday.

By ED WHITE, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan prosecutor filed a terrorism charge Monday against a man accused of stabbing 11 people at a Walmart store. The charge has been rarely used in the state’s courts since it was adopted more than 20 years ago during the national outrage over 9/11.

Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg said she believes the charge fits because the weekend attack was intended to “put fear in the entire community and to change how maybe we operate on a daily basis.”

But proving that could be difficult. Bradford Gille, 42, has a history of mental health problems. A judge signed an order Friday, the day before the attack, telling police to find him and take him to a hospital because he was considered a risk to himself or others. Police said they were unable to find him.

The booking photo of Bradford Gille, who is accused of stabbing 11 people at a Walmart, is seen behind Grand Traverse County Sheriff Mike Shea during a news conference Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Traverse City, Mich. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Moeggenberg also filed attempted murder charges, one for each Walmart stabbing victim. A not-guilty plea was entered for Gille, and bond was set at $100,000.

A look at Michigan’s terrorism law:

Lawmakers respond to 9/11

The Michigan Legislature in 2002 created and amended a stack of anti-terrorism laws after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.

A terrorism crime is defined as an act “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence or affect the conduct of government or a unit of government through intimidation or coercion.” A conviction carries a sentence of up to life in prison.

“I don’t see the prosecutor being able to establish this,” sad Margaret Raben, a Detroit-area lawyer who has served as president of a statewide association of defense attorneys. “It seems to have been a random thing, and the fact that he injured 11 people doesn’t make it any less random.”

This photo provided by the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, July 27, 2025, shows the knife that authorities say was used to stab 11 people at a Walmart on Saturday, July 26, in Traverse City, Mich. (Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Gille’s mental health will be an issue. He’ll likely be evaluated to determine if he understands the charges and can assist his lawyer. Experts will also determine if he can be held criminally responsible.

In 2016, Gille was accused of smashing a cemetery vault that had not yet been covered with grass, one of many encounters with local police over many years. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, according to Emmet County court records.

“He never should have been out on the street. It was just sad,” Karl Crawford, superintendent of Greenwood Cemetery in Petoskey, Michigan, told The Associated Press.

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School shooter convicted of terrorism

There’s no dispute that a terrorism charge is rare in Michigan. Wayne County, the largest in the state, has never used it, according to Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the prosecutor.

The biggest case: the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in which four students were killed and more were wounded. Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to terrorism, murder and other crimes, and is serving a life sentence. He had planned the attack.

It was the first time that a school shooter was convicted of terrorism in the United States, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said.

“The sheer force of destruction, violence, trauma and murder the shooter caused that day did not stop at the doorway of Oxford High School. It was carried through the doors and out into the community,” McDonald said.

Associated Press reporter Corey Williams contributed.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he ended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and threw the now-disgraced financier out of his private club in Florida after Epstein betrayed him more than once by hiring people who had worked for him.

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Trump did not say what the people’s jobs were or where they worked, and the White House had no immediate comment. But with the fresh comments, Trump shed a little light on the reason why he has said he had ended the relationship with Epstein, though Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, recently said on X that, “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

Epstein killed himself, authorities say, in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump and his top allies stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death before Trump returned to power and are now struggling to manage the fallout after the Justice Department said Epstein did in fact die by suicide and that it would not release additional documents about the case.

The president and his allies, some of whom are now in the administration, had promised to release the files.

The case has dogged Trump at home and abroad and even followed Vice President JD Vance during an appearance in his home state of Ohio on Monday. A small group of protesters assembled outside a factory in Canton that Vance toured, holding signs that spelled out “JD Protects Pedophiles” and indicating that “GOP” stands for “Guardians Of Pedophiles.”

The Republican president spoke at his golf property in Turnberry, Scotland, as he sat with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the leaders had met and were answering questions from U.S. and U.K. journalists. Asked to explain why the relationship had faltered, Trump said, “That’s such old history, very easy to explain, but I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it.”

He then explained, saying he stopped talking to Epstein after “he did something that was inappropriate.”

“He hired help and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again,’” Trump said. “He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata.”

“I threw him out and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth,” Trump added.

Trump recently directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the public release of sealed grand jury transcripts in the case. One federal judge has denied that request; a second judge has yet to rule.

Vance on Monday visited the factory to promote Trump’s tax cut and border bill, but also addressed the Epstein matter, saying the president wants “full transparency” in the case.

“The president has been very clear. We’re not shielding anything,” Vance said in response to a reporter’s question. “The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.”

“Some of that stuff takes time,” Vance said, adding that Trump has been “very clear. He wants full transparency.”

Trump had said back in 2019 that Epstein was a fixture in Palm Beach but that the two had had a falling-out a long time ago and he hadn’t spoken with Epstein for 15 years.

Trump on Monday also denied contributing to a compilation of letters and drawings to mark Epstein’s 50th birthday, first reported on by the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper said the letter believed to be from Trump included a drawing of a woman’s body.

“I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you,” Trump said.

Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Canton, Ohio, contributed to this report.