Former Bethel Park Police Lieutenant Sentenced for Transporting Illegal Alien Within the United States

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court on March 13, 2024, to three years of probation, a $2,000 fine, and 50 hours of community service following his conviction of transporting an illegal alien within the United States, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

United States District Judge Robert J. Colville imposed the sentence on Blake Thomas Babin, 60.

According to information presented to the Court in connection with Babin’s guilty plea, from October 20, 2022, through December 30, 2022, Babin—at the time, a lieutenant with the Bethel Park Police Department—provided funding to an 18-year-old Venezuelan female living in Colombia for her transportation from Colombia to the border between Mexico and the United States, so that she could cross illegally into the United States. After two unsuccessful attempts, the female was able to get through the border somewhere near El Paso, Texas, where Babin was waiting to transport her to Phoenix and then to Pittsburgh. Babin admitted that he met the female in Colombia, where she was working as a prostitute. Text exchanges between the two, obtained during the investigation, revealed, in part, that Babin helped smuggle the female into the United States and then transported her knowing that she illegally entered the country because he “loved her” and wanted her to help him “keep his house.”

“Blake Babin betrayed his sworn oath to uphold the law when he paid for a Venezuelan teenager’s transportation to the United States border, knowing that she would then attempt to enter the country illegally so that they could carry on a romantic relationship,” U.S. Attorney Olshan said. “When police officers violate federal criminal law, this office will work in partnership with federal, state, and local law enforcement to hold them accountable.”

Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Olshan commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, assisted by the Amtrak Police Department’s Pittsburgh Field Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Babin.