Jim Kouri
August 25, 2006
Feds bust 25 illegal alien sexual predators in Los Angeles
By Jim Kouri

A Mexican national who attempted to kidnap a seven-year-old girl from a local Laundromat is one of 25 persons arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles during the past three days as part of a joint enforcement effort with the United States Attorney's Office targeting foreign nationals with prior convictions for sex offenses, many of them involving children.

Four of the foreign nationals taken into custody during this week's operation have been deported from the United States previously. The group includes two Salvadorans, a Honduran, and a Mexican national. The defendants are being prosecuted by the US Attorney's newly created Domestic Security and Immigration Crimes Section for reentering the United States after deportation, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Earlier this week, the four were ordered detained without bond. A fifth man, a Salvadoran national convicted of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, also faces criminal charges, but he remains at large.

The sex offenders being prosecuted for felony reentry include Jose Angel Pakas-Murcia, 46, a Honduran national who was deported in 1995 after serving time for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in Florida. ICE agents arrested Pakas-Murcia Tuesday at the local car dealership where he worked as a manager in the parts department.

The remaining 21 sex offenders — including 17 Mexican nationals, three Salvadorans, and a Filipino — are being detained by ICE and will be placed in administrative immigration proceedings. Of the 21, 14 are legal permanent residents whose criminal convictions make them subject to deportation. The remaining seven entered the country illegally.

The arrests are the latest local enforcement action carried out as part of Operation Predator, an ongoing ICE initiative to identify, investigate, arrest and, in the case of foreign nationals, deport those who prey on children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, and Internet pornographers.

The foreign nationals arrested on administrative immigration violations include Gabino Chavez-Rosales, a 43-year-old Mexican national who was convicted in California state court of lewd acts with a minor. The charges stem from an incident where the Glendale resident tried to kidnap a young girl who was playing in a Laundromat parking lot. Also arrested on immigration violations was Jose Luis Rodriguez-Lucatero, 41, who entered the United States illegally from Mexico and was convicted for the attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl.

"These pedophiles pose a serious threat to the well-being of our children, our families, and our communities," said Robert Schoch, special agent-in-charge for the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. "We will continue to work closely with the United States Attorney's Office and our other law enforcement partners to target those who prey on the children of this community. In the case of foreign nationals who commit predatory offenses, we cannot only take them off of the streets, but we can seek to have them sent out of the country."

Meanwhile, ICE agents are continuing to search for the fifth criminal suspect sought in the operation, Alejandro Rodriguez Villegas, 50, of Los Angeles. The Salvadoran, who was sentenced to five years in prison for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, was previously deported in 1997.

Since ICE launched Operation Predator in July of 2003, the agency has arrested more than 8,200 sex offenders nationwide. More than 1,100 of those arrests were made by ICE agents in the Los Angeles area.

Operation Predator is part of ICE's expanded interior immigration enforcement strategy, which focuses on identifying and removing criminal aliens, immigration fugitives, and other immigration violators from the United States. The agency's top priority is arresting and removing foreign nationals who pose a threat to public safety or national security.

© Jim Kouri

 

The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)


Jim Kouri

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police... (more)

Subscribe

Receive future articles by Jim Kouri: Click here

Latest articles

May 3, 2016
New book by rising star provides political action plan for millennial voters


April 15, 2016
CIA chief more concerned with Obamaism than protecting Americans: Critics


April 13, 2016
State Dept. finally turns over Huma Abedin/Susan Rice Benghazi files


April 4, 2016
Federal judge allows watchdog group access to Clinton email


March 23, 2016
ISIS hackers post 'hit list' of Minnesota cops


March 15, 2016
World leaders want Hillary: best president money can buy


March 9, 2016
Iran's Ayatollah: Under Obama U.S. lacks the might it once had


February 3, 2016
Political cover up at State Dept. to benefit Hillary Clinton during primaries


January 26, 2016
ISIS builds stronghold in Libya: Obama and Hillary ignore their handiwork


January 24, 2016
Hillary Clinton's email fiasco worse than originally suspected


More articles