Chilean IA/reg'd sex offender caught re-entering U.S.

Illegal immigrant found stranded under border bridge

Associated Press - April 22, 2008 2:23 AM ET

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A Chilean man is being held without bond after his alleged border-crossing attempt was derailed -- literally.

The Border Patrol says Rafael Ernesto Corvalan Herrera was using a makeshift cart Sunday to shuttle himself along the support beams of an international bridge over the Rio Grande at El Paso, Texas. Surveillance cameras aren't trained on the underside of the bridge. But a wheel on the cart broke, stranding him on the span at least 20 feet above the ground.

Authorities say Corvalan Herrera told agents that smugglers in Mexico had arranged to get a group of people across the river using the cart. It's unclear how many people may have used it previously.

Corvalan Herrera was deported from the U.S. once before. He faces a federal felony charge of illegally entering the country after being deported. He's a registered sex offender in Florida.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Here's more detailed info:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352105,00.html

Illegal Immigrant Found Stranded on Makeshift Cart Under El Paso Border Bridge

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

U.S. Border Patrol

April 20: El Paso firefighter Paul Wasiewski assisted U.S. Border Patrol agents in removing a cart that officials said was used by illegal immigrants.

A Chilean man was halfway to freedom when his alleged border-crossing attempt was derailed.

The man, who was deported from the U.S. once before, was using a makeshift cart Sunday to shuttle himself along the support beams of an international bridge over the Rio Grande. But a wheel on the cart broke, stranding him on the span at least 20 feet above the ground, the Border Patrol said Monday.

Agents have been paying particular attention to the rafters of international bridges in El Paso, Texas, since last year when a similarly crude system for smuggling drugs was discovered.

"You can't knock the ingenuity. It's there," Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said.

The man told agents that smugglers in Mexico had arranged to get a group of people across the river using the cart, Mosier said. It is unclear how many people may have used it previously.

This is not the first time that Border Patrol agents have found such a makeshift device, but the discoveries are rare, agency officials told the El Paso Times.

This particular cart had a metallic frame with a wire mesh top. Underneath, the frame was supported by rubber wheels, like those on a toy wagon, mounted on axles, the El Paso Times reported. The cart fit perfectly between two I-beams running four feet apart along the length of the bridge’s underbelly.

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Victor Lujan told the El Paso Times that an immigrant would lie on the trolley on his back, using his legs to push on the beams to move the cart along the rails.

Rafael Ernesto Corvalan Herrera, 33, was arrested Sunday afternoon and faces a federal felony charge of illegally entering the country after being deported. He is a registered sex offender in Florida.

Corvalan is being held without bond at the El Paso County jail, where records do not show if he has a lawyer. He told agents he paid smugglers a little less than $400 for the cart ride, the El Paso Times reported.

Corvalan said he waited under the bridge for 18 hours before being discovered.

According to law enforcement records in Florida, Corvalan was deported after February 2003 convictions for sexual battery using threats of force or violence, and false imprisonment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

I think it is good they caught him, obviously. However one funny thing stands out in my head.

I have this image of this man sitting, stuffed into a shopping cart, unable to move and agents coming along to find him, limbs precariously sticking out of this cart, stuck and unable to free himself!!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:D :D

Got to love this one.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../fireworks.gif

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Corvalan Herrera was deported from the U.S. once before. He faces a federal felony charge of illegally entering the country after being deported. He's a registered sex offender in Florida.

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The list of illegal alien sex offenders just keeps getting longer. IT DISGUSTS ME. :evil:

They get deported and come back over and over again through the revolving door. CLOSE THE BORDER, BUILD THE FENCE, AND PUT THE MILITARY ALL ALONG AND INBETWEEN GAPS IN THE FENCE. Stop these perverts and sexual molesters from coming in. :evil:

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Originally Posted by butterbean

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Corvalan Herrera was deported from the U.S. once before. He faces a federal felony charge of illegally entering the country after being deported. He's a registered sex offender in Florida.

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The list of illegal alien sex offenders just keeps getting longer. IT DISGUSTS ME. :evil:

They get deported and come back over and over again through the revolving door. CLOSE THE BORDER, BUILD THE FENCE, AND PUT THE MILITARY ALL ALONG AND INBETWEEN GAPS IN THE FENCE. Stop these perverts and sexual molesters from coming in. :evil:

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Maybe we should start a sticky thread of illegal alien sex offenders. List their names, country, type of crime/crimes, if they've been prosecuted, deported and which state they were in. Pictures if possible.

Gogo, you'd think the FBI or Dept. of Homeland Insecurity would have something like that already.....but then again, it is the government :roll: :roll: :roll: .

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Originally Posted by AE

Gogo, you'd think the FBI or Dept. of Homeland Insecurity would have something like that already.....but then again, it is the government :roll: :roll: :roll: .

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I wonder if they do?

There are some sites devoted to registered sex offenders out there, but I do not know of any personally, it would have to be researched.