Thread: Kidnapper 'inadvertently' released from jail before trial, feds think he fled to Mexi

Kidnapper 'inadvertently' released from jail before trial, feds think he fled to Mexico
by Dave Hendricks
Sunday, April 2nd 2017



Luis Gerardo Betancourt, 20, of Pharr. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas)




Convicted on a federal hostage-taking charge, Luis Gerardo Betancourt faces life in prison.

Betancourt, though, may never spend a day behind bars — thanks to a bureaucratic blunder by the federal government, which “inadvertently” released him before trial.

“They released him by mistake because they thought the case had been dismissed,” said attorney Richard R. Alamia of Edinburg, who represents Betancourt.

The case against Betancourt started in November 2015, when a Mexican woman living in Florida paid smugglers to sneak her best friend and 8-year-old daughter across the border.

After arriving in Reynosa, smugglers took the girl and her mother’s friend hostage.

They demanded $24,000 and asked the mother "if she wanted to hear her daughter scream,” according to the criminal complaint against Betancourt. At trial, the mother testified about how they threatened to cut off her daughter’s fingers and ears.

The mother frantically wired money to the smugglers, asking friends and relatives for help. She eventually sent about $17,500.

When the smugglers didn’t release her daughter, the woman contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators requested help from the FBI, which tracked the smugglers with cell phone location data.
Information provided by Metro PCS allowed FBI agents to track down Betancourt, 20, of Pharr. Prosecutors said he recruited people for the kidnapping scheme and collected the ransom money.

Investigators also arrested Jonathan Carlos Valdez-Harris and Luis Enrique Perez-Talavera, who pleaded guilty to hostage taking last year. Betancourt rejected the plea deal.

The U.S. Marshals Service transferred Betancourt to the Starr County jail, where he would await trial.

Prosecutors eventually decided to drop five of the seven charges against Betancourt and filed the motion on March 6 — the day before jury selection.

U.S. District Judge Randy Crane granted the motion on March 9, dismissing two drug charges and three charges of lying to FBI agents. Two charges remained: hostage taking and conspiracy to transport aliens within the United States.

What, exactly, happened next remains unclear.

Someone apparently thought all charges against Betancourt had been dismissed and sent the Starr County jail a standard Marshals Service document called a “Prisoner Remand or Order to Deliver and Receipt for U.S. Prisoners.”

Jailers released Betancourt on March 10, according to Starr County Sheriff’s Office records.

Betancourt thought prosecutors had dropped the case and called his attorney, Alamia, to thank him. Alamia told Betancourt two charges remained pending.

“He wasn't very happy about that,” Alamia said.

Neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the Marshals Service would comment on the circumstances surrounding Betancourt’s release.

Betancourt never attended another court hearing.

When the judge asked about Betancourt’s whereabouts, FBI Special Agent Lynette Linn and Deputy U.S. Marshal Juan Lara testified he probably fled to Mexico. Investigators believe Betancourt may be affiliated with the Gulf Cartel.

"No one knows,” Alamia said. “I don’t know where he is. His mother doesn't know where he is. The marshals don’t know where he is.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Sturgis confirmed the “inadvertent release” and said Starr County wasn’t to blame.

“There’s an ongoing investigation,” said Sturgis, the attorney in charge of the McAllen Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The case against Betancourt went forward without him on March 24.

Prosecutors called 19 witnesses over five days, according to court records. The jury took fewer than three hours Thursday to convict Betancourt on both charges.
Sentencing is scheduled for June. Betancourt remains a fugitive.

The U.S. Marshals Service asks anyone with information about Betancourt to call (956) 618-8025.
http://valleycentral.com/news/local/...ink-he-fled-to

Someone apparently thought all charges against Betancourt had been dismissed and sent the Starr County jail a standard Marshals Service document called a “Prisoner Remand or Order to Deliver and Receipt for U.S. Prisoners.”

Strange. A cartel mole? A hacker? A sting to track him down to the cartel? Who knows, but it does warrant an investigation to get to the bottom of the screw-up, if it was. Hopefully he's back in Mexico and stays there and our great FBI and DEA can track him.

For those who still believe in "self deportation", that's what this guy did, he "self deported". We need to police illegal immigrant traffic in both directions on all our borders.

We don't know that. I'd be very surprised if he actually left. He's in some cartel safe house laying low.

He's working at the local poultry plant or McDonald's in Little Podunk, Texas - and has already created another anchor baby while enjoying the many benefits of the welfare state of America with his live in. Who knows, he may be going to some university - on our dime.

If

we cut off the work by forcing these criminal employers to hire citizens -

we confiscate their vehicles when they are caught with fake ID's

we cut off all benefits from the welfare - except for emergency food and healthcare

warn them we will confiscate any and all properties, if they do not return home

Self-deportation will work - at least to a large degree and it will be a less expensive option.

Well, of course the criminal employers won't like it, they won't 'donate' to their favorite parasite politician.

Lots of retailers won't like it.

Banks won't like it.

Wall Street won't like it

In fact, probably the only people who will like it are the American taxpayers.

Actually, I think you'll be surprised how many people and organizations will like it. Banks will like it because they really don't want to make loans to illegal aliens. They did it only because of that Community Reinvestment Act for minorities. Wall Street will like it because they can hire Americans without being called racist. Retailers will like it because they'll have more customers who can afford to buy their nice products.

There's been an inversion of common sense, it's like the "racist" and "xenophobic" labels together with the false song of globalism shut their brains down. These were orders from the top down, being shoved down everyone's throats. That's why the stock market did so well after Trump was elected. Business people want the illegal aliens to go home and our manufacturing jobs to come home. I mean who in their right mind wouldn't want that?! It's just common sense. It's the natural order of things. It's the way it's supposed to be.

Self deportation for illegals is ust as rotten as letting them stay in sanctuary cities.

We need to police our borders in both directions.

We know that it is illegal to cross our borders into the country without our permission, but what about exiting the country? Certainly citizens can come and go as they please. Certainly anyone legally in the country can go as they please.

Perhaps the problem is where you exit the country. There are approved ports of entry and exit to the country. In order to control illegal immigration, we have to start insuring the people leaving the country had a right to be here in the first place. Here we have another imposition on lawful residents created by illegal immigration. Until we can purge the country of illegals, this is something we will might have to put up with. Naturally, people who cross our borders outside of approved ports of entry, across border fences, for example, are just as likely to exit the country across the same fences.

The only thing that scares me a little bit about the wall is what if something happens in our country, something awful like a nuclear attack and we need to leave. How do we get out?

Originally Posted by Judy

The only thing that scares me a little bit about the wall is what if something happens in our country, something awful like a nuclear attack and we need to leave. How do we get out?

You are joking right? Please tell me you are joking. Do you seriously believe that nuclear civil defense in this country includes fleeing to Mexico?

I think I would rather duck and cover.

Originally Posted by Judy

The only thing that scares me a little bit about the wall is what if something happens in our country, something awful like a nuclear attack and we need to leave. How do we get out?

I don't plan on leaving but perhaps you can get through one of those many "big beautiful doors" Trump plans on building as part of the wall.