3 teens charged in assault at shelter
Youths, all 17, are being held at county jail
By Mike Baird (Contact)
Originally published 04:50 a.m., July 2, 2008
Updated 04:51 a.m., July 2, 2008

Sergio Davine-Paz
Javier Nunez-Ramirez
Edgardo Casco-PerezThree 17-year-old male Bokencamp Children's Shelter detainees from Honduras were arrested by police about 8 p.m. Monday following an assault on four center staff members.

Staff members told police that Edgardo Casco-Perez, Sergio Davine-Paz and Javier Nunez-Ramirez appeared to be plotting an escape attempt and they attacked staff members who attempted to separate them, according to a Tuesday police brief.

The teens are suspected members of an El Salvadoran street gang, the brief said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol agents asked police to book the teens on state charges and plan to file federal charges, the brief said.

It is not clear why the teens were being detained at the shelter, but they were not being held by customs, said Fred Schroeder, agent in charge of the Corpus Christi office.

Since the U.S. Border Patrol considers 17-year-olds juveniles, authorities did not make information on the teens available.

Bokenkamp is an emergency shelter for approximately 60 unaccompanied refugee children from Central and South America ranging in age from infants to teens, according to the shelter's Web site.

The shelter's program director did not return calls Tuesday, but according to the Web site the children have all experienced some form of traumatic separation from their families.

Corpus Christi police administrators also did not return calls. The three detainees are being held at Nueces County Jail on assault charges with bonds set at $1,000 each, jail officials said.

Contact Mike Baird at 886-3774 or bairdm@caller.com
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