IO RANDE ALLEY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD A3 Fine Jewelry Repair Rolex and Fine Watch Repair A Family Tradition For Over A Century 2451 Pablo Kisel Blvd. Brownsville, TX 78526 (956) 986-0210 Etoile de Paris SPA Gift Available Hours: Tuesday Saturday 10:00 am 7:00 pm 3101 Pablo Kisel Blvd. Ste. A-4, Brownsville, TX (956) 350-2999 www.etoiledeparisspa.com facebook.com/EtoileDeParisSpa FACIALS MANICURE PEDICURE MASSAGES TANNING SLIMMING CELLULITE TREATMENTS MAKEUP WAXING First visit off Coastal Finance 2449 Boca Chica Suite A (956) 541-3600 Loans from 40 to 1260 BY CHRISTINA R. GARZA STAFF WRITER An undocumented man from Mexico City was sentenced to 60 months in a federal prison for conspiracy to harbor and harboring of aliens relating to a stash house in Brownsville.
He was also sentenced for illegal re-entry after deportation Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen, court records show. A press release issued by spokeswoman Angela Dodge of the U.S. Office for the Southern District of Texas, indicated that Rodrigo Gonzalez- Alvarez was convicted by a jury in June, following a three-day trial.
The release also said that Claudia Cerda-Lucio, 34, Rafael de la Cruz- Bautista, 29, Raul Ramirez-Martinez, 36, and Miguel Pucheta- Malaga, 19, all undocumented immigrants from Mexico; and Rafael Hernandez, 20, of Brownsville, were also charged but pleaded guilty in advance of trial. Cerda-Lucio and De la Cruz-Bautista were sentenced earlier this week to respective sentences of 34 and 64 months, while Hernandez was sentenced to five years probation. Cerda-Lucio, Ramirez-Martinez, De La Cruz-Batista, Gonzalez-Alvarez, Hernandez and Angel Pucheta-Malaga were arrested March 27 after U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered 72 undocumented immigrants at a home on the 1300 block of Coral Court in Brownsville. Court records show that at the time of the discovery, agents also recovered a cell phone.
Agents used the phone in a to contact other conspirators reporting to be the aliens and saying they had escaped the stash house as it was raided by federal authorities. As a result, the alien smugglers were arrested as they attempted to pick up the who they had thought escaped from the house, the records state. Further investigation ultimately led agents to a trailer in Olmito where they arrested Gonzalez- Alvarez and Cerda-Lucio. Court records said that harbored immigrants testified that Gonzalez-Alvarez would order when they would be fed, would keep them quiet and would receive the immigrants as they arrived at the stash house. The release stated that during the course of the hearings, the court noted the conditions in which the illegal immigrants were harbored, stating the were packed like in overcrowded and Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol investigated.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Oscar Ponce is prosecuting the case. Pucheta-Malaga and Ramirez-Martinez are set for sentencing Oct. 23 and Nov. 18, 2014, respectively.
BY JARED TAYLOR STAFF WRITER FALFURRIAS A U.S. Border Patrol agent said he was assaulted by a man armed with a knife as he tried to arrest him Sunday afternoon. Border Patrol agents tried to stop a Lincoln Town Car heading north along U.S. 281 near FM 2191 about noon Sunday, according to a criminal complaint. The driver pulled off the highway and parked near a church, where four people ran from the vehicle into the nearby brush, the complaint states.
Agents said they caught two of the people fled. Border Patrol Agent Edgar Garcia followed another man who ran from the car later identified as Esteban Arroyo and attempted to arrest him, according to the complaint. Garcia said Arroyo and threw him to the ground during the arrest, the complaint states. Garcia said he stood up and saw Arroyo had a knife and then fired pepper spray at him, subduing him enough to be placed under arrest. Arroyo told Border Patrol agents been drinking throughout the night before, celebrating his birthday and was helping a woman in the car Angelica Santos pick up friends in Falfurrias.
He said he woke up when Border Patrol agents ran to the Lincoln. Santos told agents Arroyo asked her to take him to Falfurrias to pick up some friends. When they reached the Brooks County Rest Area south of the city on U.S. 281, they stopped and picked up three people who appeared to be immigrants illegally in the country, according to the complaint. One of the immigrants said they eaten or drank anything in three days.
Arroyo later told a Homeland Security Investigations agent that he never reached for his knife when confronted by Garcia and that he ran from the Lincoln because a Border Patrol agent ran to the car and hit the side window with his gun, according to the complaint. He denied knowing anything about the immigrants. One of the immigrants told the HSI agent that illegally entered the U.S. on Aug. 11 and that stayed in several stash houses before trying to head north to Houston.
He said never met Arroyo, but recognized his voice when he got into the car at the rest stop and was he was in charge, the complaint states. Arroyo was formally charged with assaulting a federal officer and immigrant smuggling. Santos, who told agents she had no financial gain during the smuggling attempt, was charged with immigrant smuggling. The case remains pending in federal court in Corpus Christi. BY TY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER Two supplemental agendas tacked onto this regular meeting of the Cameron County Court bring interesting items to the board, as the items concern the organizational structure, meeting dates for the Court and an online payment system for the bridges.
The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. on the second floor of the Dancy Building on East Monroe Street in downtown Brownsville. The item concerning the organizational structure in place within the administration centers on the role of the director of administrative services position. The item was signed by Bruce Hodge, the chief legal counsel, for Precinct 4 Commissioner Dan Sanchez and states that the administrative scheme is to be in need of as both the deputy county administrator and the director of administrative services have supervisory duties over certain departments. The organizational chart available on the county website shows the administrative services director as a department head beneath the authority of the deputy and county administrators.
Neither Hodge nor Sanchez could be reached for comment Wednesday. JOSE DE LEON STAFF WRITER HIDALGO Authorities arrested a Houston man after finding child p*rnography on his cell phone, according to a criminal complaint. Alfred Robert Rosales 43, was charged with possession to view child p*rnography after he tried to enter the U.S. at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge. A search through his phone by Customs and Border Protection officers found p*rnography with several young men who appeared young enough to be minors, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.
Rosales walked to the port of entry about 1 a.m. Tuesday. A check on Rosales at the primary inspection area indicated his status as a sex offender, prompting officers to conduct a secondary inspection. After he was instructed to unlock his cell phone during the inspection, a CBP officer noticed him scrolling through his cell phone as if he was deleting items from it, the complaint states. A search through Internet browser history led to several links that contained images and videos of naked young boys who appeared to be minors, according to the complaint.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent interviewed Rosales, who admitted to using his cell phone to occasionally view p*rnography. While searching his phone, authorities found he searched the word and that there was a video titled Rosales told the agent that keywords he occasionally uses has made child p*rnography accidentally appear on his cell phone. Rosales registered as a sex offender in 2001 after his release from state prison in Huntsville, where he served a three-year sentence for indecency with a 9-year-old child. Man, co-conspirators sentenced in alien smuggling case Houston man charged with child p*rn at Hidalgo bridge Agent says he was assaulted in Falfurrias Cameron County officials prepared to meet today LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO STAFF WRITER A security guard at the McAllen federal building was charged last week in federal court for receiving and possessing child p*rnography. Ricardo A.
Garcia, of McAllen, was arrested Sept. 17 after agents with Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at his home, according to court records. During the search, investigators seized a computer and multiple media storage devices, records show. The investigation into Garcia began after agents identified his Internet Protocol, or IP, address as one receiving files of videos containing child p*rn on a peer-to- peer network, authorities said. Agents then arrested and interviewed Garcia, who admitted to downloading child p*rn from the Internet, adding that he knew it was illegal to possess the material, records show.
A preliminary forensic examination of computer revealed a folder that contained several obscene video files of minors, said investigators, who added that Garcia also confessed to sharing the videos with other users. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III charged Garcia with one count receipt of child p*rnography and one count of possession of child p*rnography. He is currently being held without bond, records show. If convicted of the felony charges, Garcia could face between five to 20 years in prison for the receipt charge and up to 10 years for the possession charge.
Fed security guard faces child p*rn charges.
