see also: in January 2002:   U.S. Customs Agents Search Wire Transfer Firm Suspected of Sending Millions to Iraq in Violation of Embargo   U.S. Customs Names New Assistant Commissioner, Congressional Affairs   U.S. Customs Service Inspectors Locate 1,700 Pound Marijuana Load   U.S. Customs Publishes List of First Disbursements Under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000   Area U.S. Customs Service Officers Seize More Than Two Tons of Marijuana   Customs Heroin, Cocaine Seizures Up   International Customs Day ...more

contacts for this news release

San Diego, Calif. -- A north county-based U.S. Customs Service special agent who gave part of his lung to save a boy stricken with cystic fibrosis has been selected to carry the Olympic torch this week as it wends its way through California en route to Salt Lake City.

Special Agent David Manglos, 41, will leave Tuesday for Santa Barbara where he will carry the flame during his assigned two tenths of a mile run in the relay on Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. He will carry the torch down State Street, from Carrillo to De La Guerra streets, before handing it off to another runner.

Manglos, one of 11,500 torchbearers nominated by friends and co-workers for their inspirational qualities, was selected for his compassion in helping a then 17-year-old stranger in critical need of a lung transplant.

Manglos, who normally investigates narcotics smuggling cases on the Mexican border, saw a story about the youngster on a local television news program late in October 2000 and immediately contacted the family to arrange for donor compatibility testing at a local hospital.

During the ensuing five-hour operation in November 2000, Manglos donated one lobe from his body and another lobe was harvested from another compatible donor. Both lobes were transplanted into the young man's body in place of his diseased lungs.

The young man, now 18, was released from the hospital last January and is doing well, Manglos said, adding that the two have kept in close touch since the life-changing operation.

Manglos received the U.S. Customs Service Commissioner's Humanitarian Award in Washington D.C. in November for his unselfish act.

"I was surprised when my employer presented me with a humanitarian award," Manglos said. "I was stunned when I received a letter from the Olympic committee inviting me to carry the flame. It's a great honor but I feel what I did was simply help another human being who needed it."