The Best and Brightest

LAS CRUCES, NM (Las Cruces Sun-News) – Border Patrol agents from the Las Cruces station apprehended a sex offender with a warrant from Middleton, Mass. on Thursday.

The agents were conducting an inspection of a commercial bus at the Interstate 10 immigration checkpoint when they encountered a Mexican national with no immigration documents or claims to be a U.S. citizen.

The national, Luis Cano Martinez, was taken into custody and after further investigation discovered that he allegedly has an extensive criminal history. Cano, 46, had a warrant out for his arrest for an alleged aggravated rape of a child under 14 from the Haverhill, Mass. police department.

The warrant was issued on July 7, 2017.

The Haverhill Police Department was contacted and Cano will be extradited.

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, CO (Fox Denver 31) – A man suspected of groping teenage females near Arapahoe High School has been arrested after a surveillance operation, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Sergio Gallegos-Munoz, 40 of Denver, was booked into the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility on Monday on three counts of sexual assault on a child and three counts of unlawful sexual contact.

The sheriff’s office said it had received several reports over a one-month period of a man having unlawful sexual contact with the teenagers near East Dry Creek Road and South University Boulevard, and inside a Starbucks store at 7521 S. University Blvd.

The females reported they were approached from behind by a man who then grabbed their buttocks.

About 6 a.m. Monday, investigators were conducting surveillance at the Starbucks when a man matching the suspect’s description entered.

A Starbucks employee told investigators that the man was the one they recalled seeing at the time of the the previous reports.

A previous victim who happened to be inside the coffee shop at the same time identified Gallegos-Munoz as the suspect in her case.

Deputies then took Gallegos-Munoz into custody.

December 14, 2017
by Dave Gibson

DUPLIN COUNTY, NC- On December 4, deputies with the Duplin County Sheriff’s Office arrested Salvador Perez, 31, after an investigation revealed that the illegal alien had reportedly molested at least five girls beginning in 2007, to the present.

The victims age in range between 4 and 12 years of age.

According to Sheriff Blake Wallace, Perez has been charged with the following 40 crimes:

FIVE COUNTS FIRST DEGREE SEX OFFENSE OF A CHILD
FIVE COUNTS INDECENT LIBERTIES WITH A CHILD
FIVE COUNTS CONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF A MINOR
FIVE COUNTS FIRST DEGREE FORCIBLE SEX OFFENSE,
FIVE COUNTS FIRST DEGREE STATUTORY SEX OFFENSE
FIVE COUNTS FIRST DEGREE RAPE OF A CHILD UNDER 15
FIVE COUNTS FIRST DEGREE STATUTORY SEX OFFENSE
FIVE COUNTS CRIME AGAINST NATURE

Understandably, many residents in the neighborhood where the sexual assaults took place, are now worried that their own children may have also fallen victim to this child predator.

WCTI reported:

“You know it happens everywhere else and you know and you hear about it on the news all the time,” Barbara Brock said. “And then to know it was right here behind me is really terrifying…Knowing what was happening and it was happening around our neighborhood — it really upsets me,” Brock said.

And, Brock, along with many others apparently have reason to be concerned, as Sheriff Wallace stated that there will likely be more children discovered to have been molested by Perez in the coming days, as the investigation continues.

Perez is currently being held at the Duplin County Detention Center on $1.5 million bail and an ICE detainer has been filed.

PORTLAND, OR (KOIN) – The suspect accused of stabbing two people on board a Greyhound Bus as it headed to Boise, Idaho is facing a 34-count grand jury indictment.

Roberto Moran-Vasquez is charged with attempted murder, assault and unlawful use of a weapon. He is also charged with 28 counts recklessly endangering.

Detectives with the East Multnomah County Major Crimes Team arrested Moran-Vasquez on Nov. 29 after he tried to take over the bus as it was headed eastbound on I-84, just east of Troutdale.

The bus driver, Clint Lawson, was stabbed in his neck but survived.

The second person stabbed in the incident was Stephen Danca who detectives say stepped up to help protect the bus when Moran-Vasquez made his approach towards the steering wheel.

According to court documents, Moran-Vasquez told police that he has gang ties to California and that he was a known fugitive.

Moran-Vasquez remains in custody.

MISSION, TX (CBS 4 News) – An 18-year-old Guatemalan man attacked a Border Patrol agent Thursday in Mission — snatching the agent’s stun gun during a struggle, according to the criminal complaint against him.

At 3 a.m. Thursday, an aerostat reported “suspected alien traffic” between South Bentsen Palm Drive and Green Road in Mission, according to the criminal complaint. Border Patrol dispatched an agent to investigate.

The agent who responded found 12 to 15 people walking northeast. When they were roughly 20 yards away, the agent turned on his flashlight and told the group not to move.

They ran.

The agent chased the group and grabbed 18-year-old Juan Santiago de Paz by the shoulder, according to the criminal complaint. De Paz refused to obey the agent’s commands and started struggling.

The agent attempted to call for backup, but the struggle had knocked his radio microphone loose, according to the criminal complaint. After he pinned de Paz down, the agent grabbed the microphone and requested help.

De Paz took advantage of the distraction and slipped free, according to the criminal complaint. The agent stunned de Paz with a Taser.

When de Paz didn’t stop struggling, the agent stunned him again.

De Paz responded by elbowing the agent in the ribs, according to the criminal complaint. The agent dropped the Taser.

“The suspected alien was able to obtain control of the Taser briefly,” according to the criminal complaint, which adds that the agent eventually took the weapon back.

Another agent arrived to help and stunned de Paz twice while attempting to subdue him, according to the criminal complaint. It took a third agent to finally place de Paz under arrest.

“Mr. Santiago de Paz admitted to being a citizen of Guatemala and illegally present in the United States after crossing the Rio Grande River,” according to the criminal complaint.

De Paz is charged with assaulting a federal agent.

Court records don’t list an attorney for de Paz, who remains in federal custody and couldn’t be reached for comment.

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VA (WTVR) – Even though her bus stop in North Chesterfield sits just steps from their home, Sara Soto never lets her 10-year-old daughter Meleny walk to or from the bus alone.

In fact, she doesn’t ever let her kids outside by themselves.

“You gotta be with your kids at all times in these apartments,” Soto said.

That’s because of an incident in late October, when Soto said a man attacked her daughter.

“He was standing right there when he grabbed her,” Soto said.

It happened while Soto and Meleny were walking to the store.

Meleny was a few steps ahead of her mother, and after rounding the corner she said she was approached by the suspect.

“His zipper was down. He said where was I going. I was just walking, and he grabbed me,” the 10-year-old said.

“I was like why are you crying? ‘That guy. That guy grabbed me. He had his thing out.’ Like what are you talking about his thing? His thing! I was like oh my God,” Soto said.

The girl was able to run away, but Soto said the man followed them home and was carrying a machete.

“What did he kept on saying? Punta, yeah something about the b****, come out *****,” Soto recalled.

She called police and officers arrested Erick Reyes and charged him with several felonies.

Once booked, Chesterfield Sheriff Karl Leonard said he learned Reyes was an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador. An immigration judge had even ordered he be deported in October of 2000, but Leonard said the feds ultimately allowed Reyes to stay.

“That was a temporary protected status he was granted to prevent him from being deported,” Leonard said. “Eventually he was released and back into the community.”

The Department of Homeland Security created the TPS program to help people from countries dealing with wars, environmental disasters and epidemics.

The CBS 6 Problem Solvers learned a person may lose their TPS if they commit two or more misdemeanors or a felony.

But that did not happen to Reyes, even though the feds told CBS 6 that he has committed three misdemeanor crimes since 2006.

“It does become frustrating because you would think if he was deported back when the original order was entered 17 years ago, then this never would have happened,” Leonard.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told us Reyes’ misdemeanors have “now rendered him amenable to removal,” but Soto wonders why he wasn’t deported before.

“The cops arrest them, and they let them back out. Like, I mean, why can’t they just give them to ICE? I mean why would they let them back out?” Soto asked.

Leonard said Sheriffs are obligated by law to let undocumented immigrants go once they have served their sentence.

He said he alerts the feds to every undocumented immigrant in his jail, and it is up to them to pick them up, but they rarely do, even as President Donald Trump touts a tougher stance on immigration.

“No, we’re not seeing it. We haven’t seen any increased action over the last year,” Leonard said.

…

Sheriff Leonard said that of the 408 undocumented immigrants in the Chesterfield jail since 2014, just 41 have been picked up by the feds.

LAKE WORTH, FL (CBS 12) – Five teens, with suspected gang ties, have been arrested and charged with homicide and robbery in connection to two murders that happened in Lake Worth. A judge, Saturday morning, ordered the teens to be held without bond. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office tells CBS12, they are in the United States illegally and are members or associates of the MS-13 gang.

Court documents show, Jorge Santos Cruz, 17, Henrry Cardoza, 16, Victor Hernandez Castro, 17, Edwin Manzanares, 17, Natividad Omar Umanzor Yanes, 17, are accused of premeditated murder as well as multiple armed robberies in connection with the death of Octavio Sanchez Morales. Morales was found shot to death near F Street in Lake Worth back on November 5th. A sixth suspect, 20-year-old Victor Fuentes of El Salvador, was arrested and reportedly confessed to his involvement in this crime. He too was charged with first degree murder and robbery.

The teens are being charged as adults.

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects attempted to rob Morales in an alley between F and E Street and shot him twice during the altercation. Surveillance video helped investigators identify the alleged culprits.

The first killing happened the day before Halloween on South H Street, where deputies found the body of 33-year-old Lucio Velasquez Morales with a gunshot wound. The second murder took place along South F Street, where 25-year-old Octavio Sanches-Morales was found shot to death.

The five teens will have a new hearing in downtown West Palm Beach. The court date is undetermined.