Deported gang suspect ran kids' bounce houses and pony rides, feds say

Dilbert E. Coreas, 22, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of illegally re-entering the U.S. after being deported for felony convictions. Federal agents and Palm Beach Sheriff's detectives said they spotted him on social media websites and operating kids' party rides at events in the county. (Handout/Florida Department of Corrections / August 13, 2013)

By Paula McMahon, Sun Sentinel7:13 p.m. EDT, August 13, 2013

Dilbert Coreas ran pony rides and bounce houses for kids' parties in South Florida, even though he was a suspected member of a violent Central American gang who slipped back into the U.S. after being deported for prior crimes, investigators say.

Now, Coreas, 22, of West Palm Beach, is facing as much as 20 years in federal prison and deportation — for real, this time — when he is sentenced later this year. He has pleaded guilty to one count of illegal re-entry after deportation.

Though Coreas was deported to his native El Salvador in early November 2012, investigators said he somehow sneaked back into the country within just a few months.

Facebook postings showed Coreas was working for It'z A Kidz World Party Planning & Rentals in Palm Beach County. In some Facebook photos, which remained online Tuesday, Coreas is seen smiling and posing with ponies and on water slides, and standing in front of a vehicle branded with the company's name and telephone number.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's detectives noticed Coreas — who has tattoos of a large cross and a tear drop on his face and several more around his neck and on his arms — on social media websites, including Facebook, according to court records.

"Gang Unit detectives observed the subject through computer social media displaying photographs suggestive of his gang involvement, more specifically the transnational criminal street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)," investigators wrote in court documents.

"Detectives have observed him operating bounce houses and conducting pony rides at local Palm Beach County events" earlier this year, federal agents wrote.

In May, the party rental company offered package deals of a waterslide bounce house, cotton candy machine with supplies and a pony for an hour for "only $275," as well as a separate offer for a regular bounce house, snow cone machine with supplies and train for an hour for $295.

A woman who answered the Palm Beach County number listed for the business said she was Coreas' girlfriend but said she had no further comment and wouldn't give her name.

The MS-13 gang is known as a particularly violent and ruthless criminal organization that is involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, kidnaps and murders, according to federal authorities. It was started by immigrants from El Salvador in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s and is reported to have about 8,000 members in the U.S. and 22,000 in other countries.

Local detectives brought in federal Homeland Security Investigations agents to assist them in identifying Coreas after figuring out that he was living in the 1300 block of Wellington Street in West Palm Beach.

Court and immigration records showed that Coreas was deported in November after serving state prison time for a 2009 conviction for felony possession of cocaine with intent to sell, felony tampering with evidence and resisting arrest in Palm Beach County, federal agents said.

Coreas was arrested in northern Florida in May and a federal magistrate judge in South Florida ordered him held without bond, saying he was a flight risk and his "re-entry reflects his ability to travel between countries surreptitiously."

He pleaded guilty to the immigration felony on Aug. 6 and is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 15.

pmcmahon@tribune.com, 954-356-4533 or Twitter @SentinelPaula

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-deportee-kids-ponies-20130813,0,3155038.story