Thread: Suspect identified in assault against border patrol agent (update)

Posted: Nov 16, 2015 3:27 PM PST
Updated: Nov 16, 2015 3:27 PM PST


JACUMBA (KUSI) — The U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector has identified one of its priority targets as being the key suspect in an assault against a Border Patrol agent Sunday night near Jacumba.

Martel Valencia-Cortez, 39, was allegedly smuggling a group of 14 individuals across the border on foot through wet, sub-40 degree weather along remote, dangerous terrain on Carries Mountain at about 7 p.m.

Upon initial encounter, agents reported that Valencia-Cortez immediately fled from the group and ran towards higher ground on the mountain. As the agents gave chase and closed the distance, Valencia-Cortez allegedly hurled a softball-sized rock at the agents, striking an agent in the face.

In response, the agent fired multiple rounds from his government-issued handgun at Valencia-Cortez.

Currently, there is no evidence that Valencia-Cortez sustained injuries. Agents reported that Valencia-Cortez fled to Mexico on foot. Fourteen individuals from the group were apprehended.

The agent who was struck by the rock received medical attention for a facial injury. An investigation of the incident is being conducted by the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department, CBP Office of Internal Affairs, and the U.S. Border Patrol.

San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Richard Barlow stated, “Martel Valencia-Cortez has a long history of endangering the lives of my agents and the citizens we serve. His actions last night serve as a bleak reminder of the risk Border Patrol agents encounter in the service of their duties. I will not sit back and allow this blatant disregard for the value of human life. San Diego Sector will follow all leads and adjust our enforcement posture until Martel is located and arrested. Justice will be served.”

Valencia-Cortez, a Mexican national, has been involved in numerous human smuggling incidents dating back to 1997.

He has been known to carry a firearm during smuggling attempts and has resorted to violent and dangerous means to conduct illicit smuggling activity and elude arrest, such as reckless, wrong-way driving along local freeways into oncoming traffic, threatening and brandishing weapons to intimidate smuggled aliens, assaulting agents, and resisting arrest.

He was recently released from federal custody in September after he was sentenced to three years in prison for alien smuggling in July 2013.

A federal arrest warrant has been issued for Valencia-Cortez. He is described as 5-foot 11-inches tall, 205 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, and has a tattoo on his right shoulder.

He is considered to be armed and dangerous.

http://www.kusi.com/story/30532377/s...r-patrol-agent

Suspect in assault on Border Patrol agent arrested

City News Service4:06 PM, Mar 11, 2016




SAN DIEGO - A man who became one of the Department of Homeland Security's highest-priority fugitives after he allegedly assaulted a Border Patrol agent with a softball-sized rock last fall was behind bars Friday following his arrest at the U.S.-Mexico line.

Martel Valencia-Cortez, a 39-year-old Mexican national, turned himself in at the San Ysidro Port of Entry about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, federal officials said.

Valencia-Cortez had been the focus of an intensive law enforcement search since the evening of Nov. 15, when Border Patrol officers reported spotting him leading 14 undocumented immigrants into the United States through remote and rugged terrain near Jacumba.

When he saw the government personnel, Valencia-Cortez broke away from his group and ran toward higher ground on Carries Mountain, according to the Border Patrol.

The agents gave chase, and as they began to catch up to Valencia-Cortez, he allegedly hurled a stone at them, striking one in the face. The injured agent responded by firing multiple rounds at the suspect with his service pistol.

Valencia-Cortez, apparently unscathed by the gunfire, continued fleeing and crossed back into Mexico. Border Patrol officers took the rest of the illegal immigrants into custody.

The agent who had been struck by the rock received medical attention for cuts and bruises.

The Border Patrol launched a binational media and public-outreach campaign seeking tips about Valencia-Cortez's whereabouts. Additionally, an intensive multi-agency enforcement operation targeted him along the border and ports of entry in California.

According to Richard Barlow, head of the USBP San Diego Sector office, those "relentless" strategies "pressured Martel Valencia-Cortez into a corner, forcing him to surrender."

"This effort should send a clear message to anyone who would carry out the deplorable act of assaulting a federal agent," Barlow said.

Valencia-Cortez has been involved in numerous human smuggling incidents dating to 1997, at times carrying a gun and eluding arrest by resorting to violence and dangerous acts, including wrong-way driving on freeways, according to federal authorities.

He was released from federal custody last September following a three- year prison sentence for human smuggling.

http://www.10news.com/news/suspect-i...rrested-031116

by RYAN SAAVEDRA
15 May 2017
San Diego, CA

A previously deported illegal alien smuggler threw a softball-sized rock at a U.S. Border Patrol agent’s face.

A federal jury convicted Martel Valencia-Cortez, 39, on Friday for assaulting a federal officer by throwing a softball-sized rock at a Border Patrol agent that struck the agent in the side of the face, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

Valencia was found guilty on all counts, including one count of assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon and three counts of bringing aliens for financial gain. When Valencia faces sentencing on August 28, 2017, he could get up to 20 years in prison for the assault charge and a mandatory minimum of five years for each count of smuggling aliens into the U.S. for financial gain.

“On November 15, 2015, less than two months after his deportation to Mexico following the completion of a 33-month sentence for a prior alien smuggling conviction, Valencia re-entered the United States guiding a group of 15 undocumented immigrants,” the DOJ reported.

Border Patrol agents intercepted the group of illegal aliens that Valencia was smuggling near Jacumba Hot Springs, southeast of San Diego, California, at which time he picked up a large rock and threw it at one of the agents from a distance of approximately 10 yards, Breitbart Texas reported at the time.

Information the CBP received from the public led them to establish a connection between Valencia and the Sinaloa Cartel–the largest and most prolific drug trafficking organization in the world, Breitbart California previously reported.

The assaulted agent testified he had never been hit so hard in his life; the blow to the agent’s face was so hard that he thought he broke his jaw or his teeth were knocked out. He said that he experienced overwhelming pain and felt as though he was going to pass out.

Valencia managed to evade apprehension as he ran back across the border. Mexican authorities took Valencia into custody and turned him over the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on March 11, 2016.

Acting U.S. Attorney Alana W. Robinson noted the risk that Border Patrol agents take every day as they put their lives on the line defending the U.S. border from dangerous criminals like Valencia.

“The conditions are treacherous in some sections of the border, and our courageous agents put their lives on the line every day to protect our country,” Robinson said. “This verdict tells us that the safety of our agents is of paramount importance and attacks on our agents will come at a high price.”

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...-patrol-agent/

August 28, 2017
David Hernandez

A prolific human smuggler who struck a Border Patrol agent in the face with a rock during a failed smuggling attempt in the mountains in the southeastern edge of San Diego County was sentenced Monday to more than eight years in prison.

Martel Velencia-Cortez, 39, was convicted in May of assault on a federal officer and three counts of human smuggling for financial gain. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff handed down a sentence of eight years and three months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Border Patrol agents spotted the Mexican national guiding 15 people across mountainous, rocky terrain in Jacumba on a chilly night on Nov. 15, 2015.

Valencia-Cortez ran from the group when agents intercepted the smuggling attempt. As agents closed in on him, he hurled a softball-sized rock at them from about 30 feet away, hitting one of them in the face.

According to court documents and testimony at trial, the blow caused the agent to feel disoriented, so much so he thought he was going to pass out. He also feared the rock had knocked out his teeth and broken his jaw, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Valencia-Cortez ran back across the U.S.-Mexico border and escaped, only to turn himself in to authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry six months later.

As a fugitive, Border Patrol officials called Valencia-Cortez one of San Diego’s most dangerous human smugglers. They said he is known for assaulting agents, threatening and intimidating people he’s smuggled, and driving the wrong way on streets and freeways to evade arrest.

Less than two months prior the assault with the rock, Valencia-Cortez was deported to Mexico after serving a sentence of nearly three years in prison for human smuggling.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...828-story.html