Sex offender caught by Border Patrol, illegal entrant dies

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.13.2007

U.S. Border Patrol agents found a dying illegal border crosser Tuesday near Sells and apprehended a convicted sex offender near Nogales on Wednesday.
At 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the desert southwest of Sells, agents encountered an adult man having convulsions, said Richard DeWitt, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.


After the man stopped breathing, agents began performing CPR, he said. Another agent arrived and drove north on Federal Route 20 as agents continued giving CPR to the man in the back of the vehicle.
Emergency Medical Service personnel took over in Sells and transported the man to a nearby hospital. At 5:50 p.m., he was pronounced dead, DeWitt said.
Identification found on the body showed he is a 21-year-old man from a town called Pachuca de Soto in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, he said. Positive identification is pending an examination by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner. The Mexican Consulate has been notified.


The Border Patrol doesn’t give out mid-month updates of the number of border deaths its recorded but from Oct. 1 through Aug. 31, agents had found 186 bodies of illegal border crossers in the Tucson Sector, compared with 160 at the same time the previous year.
In that same time period, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner has handled 194 bodies. Since Jan. 1, the office has handled 181 bodies, well ahead of the pace in 2006 at that time, 148, and the record-setting 2005, 166.


An illegal entrant sought in connection with sex abuse charges in the U.S., was apprehended at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday east of Nogales, DeWitt said. The following morning at about 6 a.m. while conducting a records check at the Nogales processing center, agents discovered the 41-year-old Chihuahua, Mexico man had been convicted of forceable sexual abuse on Oct. 25, 2006 in Fillmore, Utah and been deported in December 2006, he said. He also had a warrant for a sexual offense out of Millard County, Utah, he said.


Officials are working to prosecute him for reentry of an aggravated felon, DeWitt said. After serving time in federal prison, he would be extradited to Millard County, Utah, where state officials would decide his punishment on the sexual offense charge. After serving time there, he would be deported to Mexico, DeWitt said. From Oct. 1 through Aug. 31, agents in the Tucson Sector had apprehended 34,388 illegal entrants with criminal records, which accounts for 10 percent of all apprehensions.

Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

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