By Kent Faulk on June 22, 2016 at 12:51 PM, updated June 22, 2016 at 2:06 PM


Illegal immigrant claims he was on Alabama mission for drug enforcer, pleads guilty

One of three men, who were arrested during a March traffic stop in Oxford while allegedly on a mission to steal a safe from a house and turn the occupants over to a Honduran drug enforcer, has pleaded guilty to a firearms charge.

Josue Lopez-Benegas, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Abdul Kallon to one count of unlawful transport of firearms by an illegal alien. The charges relate to the recovery of pistols during a March 25 traffic stop by Oxford police.

Kallon set Sept. 20 for Lopez-Benegas' sentencing.

Lopez-Benegas entered a blind plea – meaning no plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Lopez-Benegas' attorney, Ken Gomany, said that prior to sentencing he will be looking for any mitigating factors that could lessen the sentence. But whatever sentence he receives, Lopez-Benegas faces deportation because he was in the country illegally, he said.

Police found several pistols, loaded magazines, a tactical vest, knife, utility rope, a machete, handcuffs, and a black ski mask inside the white four-door 2015 Dodge Dart in which Lopez-Benegas and two other men were riding, according to federal court documents filed Friday.


3 men stopped in Oxford on alleged mission for drug enforcer Oxford police found several pistols, loaded magazines, a tactical vest, knife, utility rope, a machete, handcuffs, and a black ski mask.

The driver, Camilo Antonio Espinoza-Medrano, 31, of Honduras, and other passenger, Enrique Echeverria Benitez, 24, of Mexico, were also each indicted on the same charge as Lopez-Benegas, federal court records show.

All three men continue to be held in jail pending disposition of their cases.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Austin Shutt is prosecuting the case.

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

On March 25, an Oxford police officer was notified by a local citizen, who reportedly saw two males climbing over his fence onto his private property. The citizen then followed the Dart in which the two men had left the property.

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

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

The Smith & Wesson model SD9, with an attached laser and a loaded magazine containing 15 rounds, was recovered from the glovebox. It was confirmed stolen by the Arlington, Texas Police Department.
The officer 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, Lopez-Benegas said he received a phone call around March 4 from a Honduran friend who wanted Lopez-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.

Illegal immigrant claims he was on Alabama mission for drug enforcer ...