Business owner sentenced for harboring illegal alien
I.C.E. News Release
May 10, 2010
Business owner sentenced for harboring illegal alien who killed a police officer
HOUSTON - A local landscaping business owner was sentenced on Monday to three months in prison and three months home confinement for harboring the illegal alien who ultimately killed a Houston police officer in 2006. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Houston Police Department.
Robert Lane Camp, 47, the owner of Camp Landscaping in Deer Park, Texas, and now a convicted felon, was also sentenced to a five-year probationary term with special conditions by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore. Camp pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2009, admitting that he knowingly harbored Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez (Quintero), an illegal alien, by employing him and leasing a residence to him.
According to court documents, Camp employed Quintero in his landscape business. When Quintero was arrested and charged by the State of Texas with indecency with a child in 1998, Camp bonded Quintero out of jail and continued to employ him. Quintero was sentenced to a term of deferred adjudication for the state offense. Quintero was deported in 1999, but illegally reentered the United States in Arizona, then flew to Houston. When Quintero returned to Houston, he resumed his employment with Camp. Camp also rented Quintero a home and listed Quintero's wife, a U.S. citizen, in government records as an employee instead of Quintero.
On Sept. 22, 2006, Quintero was arrested while driving a Camp company vehicle by Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson. While sitting in the back seat of Officer Johnson's patrol car, Quintero retrieved a pistol hidden on his person, and shot and killed Officer Johnson. Quintero was convicted of capital murder in the 248th District Court of Harris County, Texas, and has been sentenced to life in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay Hileman and Ryan McConnell, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted the case.
-- ICE --
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE comprises four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 11, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1005/100510houston.htm
