EL CENTRO, CA - AUGUST 29: Border Patrol agent, Scott Plesuk, patrols the border in the desert August 29, 2005 near El Centro, California. The governors of New Mexico and Arizona have declared a state of emergency along the border due to drug trafficking, illegal immigration and threat of terrorists coming through Mexico. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images) (2005 Getty Images)
The U.S. Border Patrol agents captured a previously deported sex offender trying to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border,
The 37-year-old man, who was not identified, was detained after he was seen trying to walk across the border in Southern California on Saturday night. Once agents determined he entered illegally, he was arrested.
The man was deported to Mexico in 2002 after serving 162 days in a California jail for raping a minor.
"Border Patrol agents routinely encounter individuals with serious criminal histories like this and work diligently to ensure they can do no more harm to those in our community," said Assistant Chief Patrol Agent David S. Kim.
This man is the first sex offender arrested by El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents in fiscal year 2017, which began on Oct. 1.
In mid-September, at the Nogales Station, Border Patrol agents apprehended a Honduran man attempting to cross into the U.S.
Records showed he had a 2010 conviction and 8-month prison sentence in California for committing a “lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14.” And a day later, a Mexican man was arrested, and it was discovered he had served 60 days in 2008 on a misdemeanor charge in New York City for forcible touching another person’s “sexual/intimate” parts.
The El Centro man will be criminally prosecuted for Re-Entry After Removal as a convicted sex offender.
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