Gunman to be sentenced in death of Border Patrol agent

Posted: Nov 14, 2013 7:48 AM PST Updated: Nov 14, 2013 7:48 AM PST

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - One of three gunmen who lured a U.S. Border Patrol agent into a trap in 2009 to steal his night-vision goggles, then fatally shot him, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in San Diego Thursday.

Marcos Rodriguez-Perez was arrested by Mexican authorities on April 11, 2011, in Tijuana and was extradited six months later to San Diego in connection with the July 23, 2009, killing of Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas Jr.

Rodriguez-Perez pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit robbery and kidnapping, robbery, and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. According to a plea agreement, the defendant will be sentenced to 58 years in federal prison.

Rodriguez-Perez admitted that he and four others -- Jose Juan Chacon-Morales, Jose Luis Ramirez-Dorantes, Christian Daniel Castro Alvarez and Emilio Samyn Gonzales-Arenazas -- traveled by car and by foot to a remote area on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border near Campo.

According to court documents, all five were carrying firearms and, once at the border, entered into an agreement to rob a U.S. Border Patrol agent of his night-vision device.

As Rosas responded to the area, Rodriguez-Perez entered the United States with Castro-Alvarez and Gonzales-Arenazas through a hole in the border fence, while the other two defendants stayed in Mexico and stood watch.

After Rosas got out of his vehicle, he was detained at gunpoint by Rodriguez-Perez, Castro-Alvarez and Gonzales-Arenazas.

Rosas resisted, and during the ensuing struggle, the three armed men fired multiple shots, killing the border agent. The three men then stole Rosas' bag, firearm, handcuffs and night-vision device and fled back to Mexico, authorities said.

Castro-Alvarez, Gonzales-Arenazas and Ramirez-Dorantes have all pleaded guilty while Chacon-Morales remains a fugitive.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/23968903/g...r-patrol-agent

Mexican national sentenced in killing of Border Patrol agent

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A Border Patrol honor guard stands at attention before carrying agent Robert Rosas' flag-drapped coffin during a memorial service in El Centro, Calif., in 2009. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / July 31, 2009)

By Tony PerryNovember 14, 2013, 5:26 p.m.

SAN DIEGO -- A 28-year-old Mexican national was sentenced Thursday to 56 years in federal prison for his part in the robbery and killing of a Border Patrol agent.

Marcos Rodriguez-Perez is the second co-defendant sentenced in the killing of agent Robert Rosas Jr. near Campo in southern San Diego County on July 23, 2009.

Another co-defendant, Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez, was sentenced in April 2010 to 40 years.

Two others, Jose Luis Ramirez-Dorantes and Emilio Samyn Gonzales-Arenazas, have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

A fifth suspect, Juan Chacon-Morales, is a fugitive. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest.

The five -- all of whom, prosecutors said, were crossing into the U.S. illegally -- are accused of detaining Rosas at gunpoint, shooting him multiple times and then stealing his weapon, night-vision device and other equipment before fleeing back to Mexico.

Rodriguez-Perez was arrested by Mexican officials in Tijuana and extradited to the United States. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and kidnapping, robbery of U.S. property, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

"If a law enforcement officer is harmed, we'll use every resource we have to catch the perpetrators and never let it be doubted: We will find them," U.S. Atty. Laura Duffy said.

U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz ordered Rodriguez-Perez's sentence to run consecutive to a two-year sentence for violating his supervised release from a prior smuggling conviction.

Rosas, 30, had been with the Border Patrol for three years. He was survived by his wife, son and daughter.

"This sentencing is tempered with the sobering reality of the senseless loss of a fine man, husband and father," said Chief Patrol Agent Paul Beeson of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-agent-killing-20131114,0,236901.story