Last Monday night, at a Highway 86 immigration checkpoint, Border Patrol apprehended a Guatemalan man with a prior child rape conviction.
During a routine stop around 11:20 p.m., on December 4, the man, traveling in a red SUV as a passenger, was subject to a secondary inspection after raising suspicion among the agents. It turned out, the passenger had been previously deported from the United States after serving a sentence for child rape, the arrest made known by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection press release.
Upon further investigation with the help of law enforcement databases, agents discovered that the man was illegally present in the country. Back in 2014 in Indianapolis, he had been convicted of child rape and was deported in 2017. Despite that, he found his way back into the U.S. and was arrested again in June this year for illegal re-entry as part of a maritime smuggling operation near San Clemente, California. He'd served six months for that offense.
"This arrest of an undocumented child rapist represents a prime example of how important our Border Patrol agents are in saving lives and sanity," El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino praised the agents. Bovino added, "The Indio Border Patrol agent working the checkpoint that day may have well-prevented harm to another child. Lord have mercy, but I stay up thinking about things like this – good job to our Border Patrol agent."
Following the arrest, the convicted sex offender was placed into removal proceedings, ensuring his exit back to Guatemala. The driver of the SUV was released along with the vehicle after the investigation.
