http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_3750498

Border Patrol catch one of "America's Most Wanted"

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

Among 16 undocumented immigrants stopped Monday near the Zaragoza Bridge was one of “America's Most Wanted,” a woman wanted in Illinois for allegedly being part of a lottery scam that targeted elderly Latinos in Illinois.
The case was featured on a segment of the television show “America's Most Wanted” that aired last month.

Maria Gomez, 49, is “one of three suspected con artists who tricked the elderly into giving them money to cash fake lottery tickets in Illinois,” Border Patrol officials said in a written release.

Gomez has an active warrant for her arrest on charges of theft by deception over $10,000 by the Wheaton, Ill., police, officials said.

Border Patrol officials said Gomez had previously been arrested for a similar scam in Hialeah, Fla.

The high-profile arrest occurred Monday evening when Border Patrol agents witnessed a group of people crossing the river four miles from the Zaragoza Bridge.

Agents identified Gomez during a routine fingerprint exam through the IDENT/IAFIS criminal database. Gomez was turned over to the El Paso Police Department and will be detained in El Paso until her extradition to Wheaton, officials said.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.