Agents discover body, arrest 3 sex offenders

Published: 08.03.2007
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/194708

The decomposed body of a suspected illegal border crosser was found Thursday by Border Patrol agents.

A Customs and Border Protection helicopter spotted the remains of what appeared to be a woman at 8:45 a.m. while flying three miles east of milepost 19 on Federal Route 19 on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, said Richard DeWitt, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. They were unable to determine her age or where she's from, he said. The case was turned over to the Tohono O'odham Police Department.

The Border Patrol has found at least 156 bodies of illegal border crossers in the Tucson Sector since Oct. 1, agency and Arizona Daily Star records show.

Meanwhile, three convicted sex offenders were arrested by agents on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday, agents arrested a 47-year-old Salvadoran man near the Lukeville port of entry, DeWitt said. A records check at the Ajo station revealed that he had been convicted in 1990 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child less than 14 years of age; in 1995 of inflicting injury upon a child; and in 1996 of willful child cruelty in California. He had previously faced charges related to child pornography, weapons violations and battery.

That same day, agents arrested an illegal entrant from Mexico near Montezuma Pass southeast of Sonoita. They later learned he had been convicted of rape of spouse by force and oral copulation by force in 1989 in California, DeWitt said.

On Wednesday, agents apprehended a 31-year-old illegal entrant from Mexico in Nogales, Ariz., who had been convicted of threatening crime with intent to terrorize in 2003 in California, he said. He also had been convicted of assault with intent to commit rape and oral copulation while serving time in San Quentin State Prison in California in 2004.

All three men are in Border Patrol custody pending prosecution based upon their extensive criminal and immigration histories, DeWitt said.