Immigration Issues

Examples of Serious Crimes of Illegal Aliens

The information below is taken from news sources. The aliens in these reports were all identified as being in the country illegally, and many of them had come into the hands of law enforcement agencies prior to the crime that is described below, but the alien was not deported or in some cases was deported but reentered the country.

These cases are listed as a demonstration that better prevention of illegal immigration is a public safety issue even though these cases are not representative of the illegal alien population in general. These cases refer to crimes other than terrorism.

  • May 2013 — An illegal alien — whose identity was withheld to protect the identity of his victim — pled guilty and was convicted in Oklahoma for the statutory rape of an 11-year old child. He was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. (KWSO Channel 7 News, May 1, 2013)
  • April 2013 — A Moroccan, Mohammed Mamdouh, was sentenced to five years imprisonment after pleading guilty in February 2012 to conspiracy to a crime of terrorism, criminal possession of a weapon and attempted possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism in New York City. Mamdouh's fellow conspirator, Algerian Ahmed Ferhani, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in March. (Businessweek, April 26, 2013).
  • April 2013 — Oscar Hernandez, a Mexican illegal alien was convicted in New Mexico of the murder of a woman in a fight and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. (Albuquerque Journal, April 11, 2013)
  • March 2013 — Angel  Campos Tellez, a Mexican illegal alien, pled guilty to helping run a prostitution ring in Maryland and Delaware. Tellez had been previously deported twice. (Washington Post, March 27, 2013)
  • March 2013 — Daniel Ignacio, a Guatemalan illegal alien, was found guilty of murder, arson and assault for torching a tenement that killed five. He faces imprisonment of 25 years to life. (New York Times, March 12, 2013)
  • February 2013 — Yanira del Carmen Guerrero Andrade, a Salvadoran illegal alien residing in Maryland, pled guilty to child sex trafficking for recruiting a run-away, pregnant 15-year-old into prostitution. (U.S. Department of Justice press release, February 13, 2013).
  • January 2013 — Pereira, a Salvadoran illegal alien was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for beating his ex-girlfriend to death in 2012 in Nebraska. (1011Now news, January 4, 2013)

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  • December 2012 — A Trinidadian, Garvin Cadogan, was sentenced in El Paso, Texas to 13 years in federal prison for child pornography and falsely using stolen identity documents to claim U.S. citizenship. (UPI December 18, 2012)
  • December 2012 — Jonas Rodríguez Pérez, an illegal alien who had been deported in 2010, pled guilty to a second-degree felony count of manslaughter for the shooting death of a rival gang member in Utah. He faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Rodriguez was also found to have other outstanding arrest warrants including one for drunk driving in San Diego. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 17, 2012)  
  • December 2012 — Yimmy Pineda-Penado, a Salvadoran, was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for being part of an MS-13 gang-run juvenile prostitution ring in Fairfax, Virginia. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release, December 14, 2012)
  • November 2012 — An illegal alien, Alejandro Uriostegui-Rodriguez, pled guilty to narcotics trafficking in Bakersfield, Calif. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. (BakersfileldNow.com November 26, 2012)
  • October 2012 — Pedro Espinoza, an illegal alien gang member who was convicted of first degree murder in Los Angeles, was sentenced to death for the shooting death of Jamiel Shaw, a local teenager whom he mistook as a rival gang member. Prior to the murder, Espinoza had been detained and released by the LAPD earlier for possession of a knife, but they had not alerted immigration authorities. (Los Angeles Times, November 2, 2012)
  • October 2012 — Luis Rodriguez-Flamenco, an illegal alien, pled guilty to the second degree stabbing murder of a woman who was a recent doctoral graduate. He was sentenced in New York to life in prison. (AP in Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2012)
  • October 2012 — Juan Ramon Hernandez, an illegal alien, was sentenced in Dallas, Texas to 15 years in prison for causing a drunk driving accident that killed his passenger and seriously injured another. (Dallas Morning News, October 25, 2012)
  • October 2012 — Jose Lorenzo Cardona-Paguada, an Honduran illegal alien pled guilty to abetting prostitution in Vermont and was sentenced to ten months in prison. (AP news in San Francisco Chronicle, October 17, 2012)
  • October 2012 — Sergio Barraza-Pinera, a Mexican illegal alien, pled guilty and was sentenced to six years imprisonment for cocaine distribution in Tennessee. (The Tennessean, October 15, 2012)

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  • September 2012 — Emanuel Herrera-Gutierrez, an illegal alien teenager, pled guilty to manslaughter for a hit-and-run vehicle accident that killed two persons in Oregon. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison. (Eugene Register Guard, September 28, 2012)
  • August 2012 — Antonio Bethel, a Bahamian illegal alien, was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison in Florida for illegal reentry into the United States after being deported following a conviction for drug trafficking. (Sun-Sentinel, August 6, 2012)

  • August 2012 — Damaso Alberto Rueda-Cabrera, an illegal alien previously convicted on a weapons charge, was convicted in Texas of attempted smuggling weapons and ammunition to Mexico's Zeta narcotics trafficking gang. He was sentenced to six years in prison. (Reuters, August 1, 2012)

  • July 2012 — An illegal alien, Luis Perez-Valencia, pled guilty to raping an 11-year old on two occasions and was sentenced to 16 to 20 years in prison in North Carolina. (WWAY TV, July 23, 2012)

  • July 2012 — Carlos Viveros-Colorado, an illegal alien, lost control of his speeding car and hit and killed a 16 year-old girl in St. Paul, Minnesota. Viveros had previously been convicted in 2001 of drunk driving and allowed by immigration authorities to voluntarily leave the country. In July 2011, he was ticketed for speeding in St. Paul, and he was also ticketed by state police also for speeding in the past year. In March he was cited for driving without a license. None of those encounters with law enforcement led to his being identified again to immigration authorities. (Pioneer Press, July 22, 2012)

  • July 2012 — Pedro Garcia Ruelas, an illegal alien pled guilty to cocaine trafficking in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. (News Observer, July 20, 2012)

  • July 2012 — David Zuccolotto, an illegal alien, was convicted of rape in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Zuccolotto pled guilty to the crime he committed more than ten years earlier. He was sentenced to ten years in prison as part of a plea agreement. After being arrested for the crime in 2001, he was released on bail and then fled to Mexico. He was re-attested in Texas in October. His brother, Cesar, was convicted as an accessory to the crime and was sentenced to two years in prison. (Lake Geneva News, July 18, 2012)

  • July 2012 — Jorge Mendez-Perez, an illegal alien, was arrested in Maricopa County, Arizona for speeding at more than 85 pmh, drunk driving, resisting arrest, ramming a police vehicle, and driving without a license. (MyFOX Phoenix, July 11, 2012)

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  • June 2012 — Victor Onishi, a Bolivian, was convicted of killing his girlfriend by strangulation in Rhode Island and was sentenced to life imprisonment. If paroled he would be deported. (Providence Journal, June 28, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Anna Guan Gabriel Choxmis, a Guatemalan illegal alien, was convicted of rape in Oklahoma and sentenced to life imprisonment. (Tulsa World, June 28, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Anna Gonzales, an illegal alien, pled guilty to a drunk driving homicide in South Carolina. Gonzales was driving without a license and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. (FoxNews.com, June 5, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Amine El Khalifi, a Moroccan illegal alien, pled guilty to an attempted terrorist suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Capitol. He is subject to a sentence of at least 25 years imprisonment. (AP June 22, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Anna Gonzalez, an illegal alien, pled guilty to a drunk driving accident that killed another driver. She was sentenced to 17 years in prison in South Carolina.

  • June 2012 — AnAvtar Singh, an Indian illegal alien, killed his wife and two children and critically wounding a third before committing suicide in central California. He was wanted for murder in India and had been arrested in the United States in 2007 for domestic violence and placed in removal proceedings by U.S. immigration authorities. But he was released. (Associated Press, June 13, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Juan Bautistauan Bautista, an illegal alien, was sentenced in Ohio to two years in prison after pleading guilty to felonious assaultfelonious assault for stabbing a victim. (IndeOnline, June 11, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Gilberto Urrego, a Colombian illegal alien, pled guilty in New York to one count of attempted first-degree criminal sexual act, formerly classified as sodomy. He was sentenced to five years in prison. (Staten Island Advance, June 10, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Cesar Avila, an illegal alien from Honduras was convicted in Houston of using a firearm during a violent crime, hostage-taking, and aiding and abetting the harboring of illegal aliens. He faces a sentence of life in prison. (Houston Chronicle, June 7, 2012)

  • June 2012 — Johoan Rodriguez, a Mexican illegal alien, plead guilty to drunk driving manslaughter in Houston. The victim was a police officer. Rodriguez was sentenced to 55 years imprisonment. (Houston Chronicle, June 5, 2012, AP June 8, 2012)

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  • May 2012 — Kleber A. Sigcha, an illegal alien, pled guilty in East Hampton, NY to rape of a minor. (East Hampton Patch, May 30, 2012)

  • May 2012 — Bich Xuan Dang, a Vietnamese illegal alien, pled guilty to drug trafficking in Texas and was sentenced to 140 months in prison. He was armed and was reported to have “a lengthy criminal record.” (KHOU News , May 16, 2012)

  • May 2012 — James Panchol, a Sudanese refugee, pled guilty to murder of a UPS delivery woman in Ft. Worth, Texas and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As a result of his felony conviction, he becomes deportable when released. (Star-Telegram, May 15, 2012)

  • May 2012 — Illegal aliens Abraham Garcia Perguero and Maria Isabel Rodriguez Olivio pled guilty in South Texas to federal weapons charges for transporting 27,000 rounds of ammunition. They face up to 10 years in prison. (The Associated Press, May 14, 2012)

  • May 2012 — Marcos Lopez Garcia, an illegal alien, pled guilty to hit-and-run manslaughter that killed a 4-year-old in Santa Rosa, California. Lopez had two prior arrests for driving without a license and without insurance, most recently in June 2010. At that time he was given a one-year conditional sentence. He faces a 5 year sentence. (Sacramento Bee, May 14, 2012, KSRO News, May 11, 2012)

  • May 2012 — Pedro Espinoza, an illegal alien gang member in Los Angeles was convicted of murder for the cold-blooded shooting of Jamiel Shaw in 2008. Espinoza had been previously jailed for “brandishing a hand gun,” but had been released rather than the police contacting immigration authorities for his deportation. He faces a possible sentence of death or life imprisonment. (Los Angeles Wave, May 10, 2012)

  • May 2012 — In San Francisco, Edwin Ramos, an illegal alien member of the MS-13 gang, was convicted of three murders and one attempted murder in a gang-related shooting. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in prison without possibility of parole. Ramos previously had been detained by police authorities as a juvenile for the felonies of assault and attempted robbery but not turned over to immigration authorities for deportation because of the city's sanctuary policy. Reports also indicate that the FBI had information that Ramos previously had gunned down a rival gang member and sold cocaine. (Washington Post, May 9, 2012: KSBW, June 11, 2012; San Francisco Chronicle July 1, 2012.)

  • May 2012 — Victor Velasquez, an illegal alien, pled guilty and was sentenced to nine month in jail for causing an accident while drunk driving and fleeing the scene of the accident in Ohio. He had a fake driver's license and a Guatemalan identity document. (IndeOnline.com, May 7, 2012)

  • April 2012 — Jose Luis Hernandez-Dominguez, a Mexican illegal alien living in Hawaii, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for molesting (second-degree assault) a 5-year old girl. (NECN.com, April 19, 2012)

  • April 2012 — Juan Gonzalez, a Mexican illegal alien, has pled guilty in New Mexico to raping three children, but he will avoid imprisonment if his lawyer's claim that he is incompetent and only should be deported is sustained. (KRQ News, April 17, 2012)

  • April 2012 — Alejandro Castro-Vega, an illegal alien, was sentenced to ten years in prison for operating a methamphetamine distribution ring in the Phoenix metropolitan area. (AP, April 10, 2012)

  • April 2012 — Jose Manuel Ayala, an illegal alien, pled guilty to statutory rape of a 12-year old girl in Escondido, California. He will be sentenced to one year in prison. (KGTV News, April 4, 2012)

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  • March 2012 — Patrick Nayyar, an illegal alien from India, was convicted in New York of conspiring and attempting to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to make or receive a contribution of funds, goods or services to Hezbollah, and conspiring to traffic in firearms and ammunition. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 75 years imprisonment. (Press Trust of India, March 29, 2012)

  • March 2012 — Geraldo Bravo Soto, an illegal alien pled guilty to hit and run driving in Pennsylvania and was sentenced to three years imprisonment and suspended all but four months. (DelMarvaNow.com, March 28, 2012)

  • March 2012 — Felix Solano-Gallardo, a Mexican illegal alien, pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter for killing a mother and child in a drunk-driving incident in Kansas City, Missouri. He faces a 35-year jail term. (FOX4KC News, March 9, 2012)

  • March 2012 — Eliazar Gonzalez-Leal , a Mexican illegal alien, was sentenced to 33 months in prison after being apprehended in Arizona. He was convicted in Washington State in 2010 for felony rape. He reentered the United States illegally after being deported. (KOVA News, March 8, 2012)

  • February 2012 — Omar Anwar, an Iraqi, was convicted in Syracuse, NY of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree assault and sentenced to 25 years in state prison. He will be deported upon release. (Post Standard, February 6, 2012)

  • January 2012 — Kesler Dufrene, a Haitian illegal alien, was implicated by DNA in the shooting murder of three persons in Miami in January 2011. He shot and killed himself when cornered by police following a subsequent unrelated break-in and shooting. Dufrene had a long arrest record and was previously convicted twice most recently in 2006 for burglary and was imprisoned until October 2010. He was released to immigration authorities for deportation, but following the earthquake damage to the country in January 2011, was released by because the Obama administration had stopped deportations to Haiti. (Miami Herald, January 22, 2012)

  • January 2012 — Raul Enrique Carballo, a Mexican illegal alien, pled guilty in Kentucky to second-degree assault for stabbing a person. Carballo reentered the U.S. illegally after being deported in 2009 following release from prison where he served nine years for stabbing his wife to death. (Daily News, January 19, 2012)

  • January 2012 — Salvador Portillo-Saravia, A Salvadoran illegal alien and MS-13 gang member, pled guilty to rape and sodomy of an 8-year old girl in Fairfax County, Va. He had previously been deported to El Salvador in 2003. He had been jailed for public drunkenness a month before the crime but his fingerprints submitted in the Secure Communities program did not result in a match because his fingerprints from the deportation had not been digitized.  (Washington Post, January 17, 2012)

  • January 2012 — ValeHeriberto Perez-Pinon, an illegal alien, was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for hostage taking and extortion in connection with an alien smuggling operation in Texas. (AP in Houston Chronicle, January 10, 2012)

  • January 2012 — Valentin Escobedo, an illegal alien, was sentenced in Indiana to 53 years in prison for fatally beating his 2-year-old daughter. (South Bend Tribune, January 6, 2012)

  • January 2012 — Tyrone “Zero” Reynolds, an illegal alien from Belize, was sentenced in Illinois to life plus seven years in prison for kidnapping a Belizan drug dealer in Gary, Indiana. (Post-Tribune, January 5, 2012)

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Archive Crimes of Illegal Aliens: