Thread: Illegal arrested during Alabama theft, kidnapping mission for Honduran drug enforcer

By Kent Faulk on April 09, 2016 at 1:05 PM, updated April 09, 2016 at 3:44 PM

Illegal immigrants arrested during Alabama theft, kidnapping mission for Honduran drug enforcer, records state

Three men, who were illegally in the country and arrested during a traffic stop last month by an Oxford police officer, had been on a mission to steal a safe from a house and turn the occupants over to a Honduran drug enforcer, court filings charge.

Police found several pistols, loaded magazines, a tactical vest, knife, utility rope, a machete, handcuffs, and a black ski mask inside the car in which the three men were riding, according to federal court documents filed Friday.

The driver of the white four-door 2015 Dodge Dart, Camilo Antonio Espinoza-Medrano, 31, of Honduras and backseat passengers Josue Lopez Benegas, 24, of Honduras, and Enrique Echeverria Benitez, 24, of Mexico were each charged Friday with being Illegal Aliens in Possession of a Firearm, federal court records show.

The three men are being held in jail and each are scheduled to have detention hearings Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Staci Cornelius in Birmingham.

Court appointed attorneys for Medrano, Benegas, and Benitez had not responded to email requests from AL.com for comment Saturday prior to publication of this story.

The Oxford Police Department had not responded to a request by AL.com for comment prior to the publication of this story. Peggy Sanford, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office that filed the charges, referred to court documents.

According to affidavits filed by a special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations here is what happened:

On March 25, Oxford Police Officer David Cash was notified by a local citizen, who reported observing two males climbing over his fence onto his private property. The citizen then followed a white four-door vehicle in which the two men had left the property.

The citizen pointed out a white four-door car to Cash, who observed it travelling westbound on Bynum Boulevard in Oxford. Cash caught up to the vehicle near the intersection of Bynum Boulevard and Beck Road and initiated a traffic stop of the Dodge Dart

When Cash stopped the vehicle and made contact with the driver, two males in the back seat were wearing camouflage.

Cash recovered a Smith & Wesson pistol - model SD9 - with an attached laser and a loaded magazine containing 15 rounds from the glovebox. The Smith & Wesson pistol was confirmed stolen by the Arlington, Texas Police Department.

Cash also recovered a loaded Caspian Arms .45 caliber pistol from under the driver's seat and from the trunk a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm pistol and a SIG Sauer SP2022 pistol and loaded magazines. "Other items found in the vehicle included a tactical vest, a knife, utility rope, a machete, handcuffs, and a black ski mask," according to the affidavit.

In an interview two days later with an FBI agent, Benegas said he had received a phone call around March 4 from a Honduran friend who wanted Benegas "to travel to Alabama to do a security job," according to the affidavit.

Benegas told the agent he was promised $60,000 once the job was completed. "The job was supposedly arranged through a security company, owned by the friend's boss, who (Lopez Benegas) knew as an enforcer and debt collector for drug organizations," according to the affidavit.

"The job involved taking a safe from individual(s) at an Alabama residence identified by GPS coordinates," the affidavit stated. "Once the residence and safe were secured, Lopez Benegas and the others were to turn over the occupants to the boss."

"Lopez Benegas further stated that he and other individuals traveled to Oxford, Alabama, and were provided firearms, bullet proof vests, camouflage clothing, and other gear to use on this job," the affidavit states.

"Lopez Benegas' specific duty was to conduct surveillance on the residence, located near the Talladega National Forrest," the affidavit stated. "The group was instructed to assault the residence and take its occupants captive. The primary goal of this operation was to take custody of a safe that was supposedly located at the residence."

Lopez Benegas reported that the group was told not to contact law enforcement, the affidavit states. He admitted, according to the affidavit, that he was armed with a handgun that he kept on his person while conducting surveillance on the target residence.

"Lopez Benegas planned to use the handgun to shoot the occupants of the house if they presented a firearm during the home invasion," the affidavit states.

Criminal history checks do not show a recorded criminal history for Lopez Benegas, according to the affidavit. But he is illegally in the U.S., the affidavit states.

During a March 30 interview with an ICE agent Medrano admitted he had been in possession of a functional, loaded 9mm handgun, according to one affidavit. Medrano stated that he placed a silver-topped Smith & Wesson handgun in the passenger's glove box of the Dodge Dart in which he and his two passengers were stopped but claimed he did not own the handgun, according to the affidavit.

Medrano had been ordered removed from the United States in absentia by an immigration judge on or about January 7, 2014, according to the affidavit. It appears Medrano failed to voluntarily deport himself, according to the affidavit.

In an April 1 interview with an ICE agent, Benitez admitted that he had been in possession of a functional, loaded 9mm handgun, according to another affidavit.

An immigration history check confirmed Benitez was illegally present in the United States, the affidavit states. Criminal history checks show that Benitez has prior convictions for possession of cocaine in 2011 and evading arrest in 2008 in the District Court of Dallas County, Texas, the affidavit states.

Illegal immigrants arrested during Alabama theft, kidnapping mission for Honduran drug enforcer, records state | AL.com

Tuesday, April 12th 2016, 11:25 am PDT
Tuesday, April 12th 2016, 5:10 pm PDT
By Rick Journey

OXFORD, AL (WBRC) -
Defense attorneys expressed frustration with testimony during a federal hearing for three men arrested in what appeared to be a plot to invade an east Alabama home to take a safe and kidnap the occupants.

The men, Camilo Antonio Espinoza Medrano, 31, and Josue Lopez Benegas, 24, both of Honduras; and Enrique Echeverria Benitez, 24, of Mexico, set in court Tuesday wearing orange and white Calhoun County Jail jumpsuits and listening to a Spanish translation of the court proceedings. On occasion, they responded to the judge’s questions in Spanish. Medrano, Benegas and Benitez were arrested March 25 after a traffic stop near the intersection of Bynum Boulevard and Beck Road in Oxford.

An affidavit from an FBI agent detailed what appeared to be a foiled a plan to attack a home, steal a safe and take the occupants captive for a Honduran enforcer and debt collector for drug organizations. No charges have been filed in connection to that information.

During Tuesday’s testimony, the agent who provided details for the affidavit did not appear. Instead, Department of Homeland Security investigator David Henderson answered questions primarily about the mens’ immigration status and whether they were in possession of firearms during the traffic stop.

Henderson offered little direct knowledge concerning the affidavit prompting Ken Gomany, defense attorney for Benegas, to tell the judge it “seems like the hearing was hijacked by Agent Henderson. The agents who know about the case are not here. I feel deprived of a preliminary hearing.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Staci Cornelius found probable cause for the charges of Illegal Alien in Possession of a Firearm. The cases can now go before a federal grand jury.

Court filings state that on March 25 an Oxford resident saw two men in camouflage climb over his fence and onto his private property. The resident had followed the men as they left the property in a white four door vehicle and then pointed out the car, a 2015 Dodge Dart, to an Oxford police officer.

During the traffic stop, a police officer found the men to be very nervous. While the driver, Medrano, provided an International Driver’s Document, the men in the back seat indicated they did not have identification, according to court documents.

Police recovered several loaded pistols and loaded magazines, a tactical vest, knife, utility rope, machete, handcuffs and a black ski mask. Benegas and Benitez wore camouflage.

After placing an immigration detainer on the three men March 25, an FBI agent questioned Benegas.

Benegas told the agent he had received a call from a Honduran friend around March 4 concerning a “security job” in Alabama, according to court documents.

“Lopez Benegas was promised $60,000 once the job was completed...The job involved taking a safe from individual(s) at an Alabama residence identified by GPS coordinates,” the court documents state.

Benegas informed the agent the job was supposedly arranged through the friends boss, who Benegas knew as “an enforcer and debt collector for drug organizations.”

The court documents detail instructions that included securing the safe and to “turn over the occupants to the boss.”

The filing also states Benegas, Benitez and Medrano traveled to Oxford and were provided firearms, bullet proof vests, camouflage clothing and other gear. Benegas was specifically to conduct surveillance on the residence located near the Talladega National Forrest.

“The group was instructed to assault the residence and take its occupants captive,” the filing states. “They were told not to contact law enforcement.”

A criminal history check showed Benitez had previously been convicted for cocaine possession and evading arrest in Dallas, Texas. Medrano had been ordered removed from the U.S. in absentia by an immigration judge. There was no recorded criminal history for Benegas.

http://www.wbrc.com/story/31704382/h...kidnapping-job