Thread: TX: ICE puts hold on Pearland suspect (update)

ICE puts hold on Pearland suspect

469 comments

Immigration status for 19-year-old charged in classmate's death is unclear, authorities say
By MIKE GLENN and CINDY GEORGE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 19, 2010, 7:53PM

Immigration officials on Friday placed a hold on the teen charged with murder after, they say, he admitted fatally beating an 18-year-old Pearland student and dumping the body in a Fort Bend County field.

Hermilo Moralez, 19, was considered a person of interest early in the investigation into Josh Wilkerson’s disappearance shortly after classes on Tuesday.

Houston ICE spokesman Greg Palmore Friday afternoon declined to confirm Moralez’s legal status and to release details about why the agency placed the hold.

Officials at the Brazoria County Jail Friday afternoon could not confirm whether the hold means that Moralez is in the country illegally.

Lt. Onesimo Lopez, a Pearland Police Department spokesman said Moralez’s father is a permanent resident and that ICE officials are looking into the murder suspect’s legal status.

According to Brazoria County records, Moralez was transferred from the Pearland police confinement and booked into the county jail at 10:05 p.m. Thursday on charges of murder, failure to identify himself by giving false information to an officer and attempting to take a weapon from an officer. Bails were set on those charges, but the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold does not allow Moralez to be released on bail.

Moralez allegedly offered authorities several versions of what happened after Wilkerson gave him a ride home after school. A fight began, he allegedly told authorities, when Wilkerson made a pass at him — an account officials say they doubt.

"The suspect claims Josh began to come on to him in a sexual manner and that's how the fight started, but we don't believe that information is very credible," said spokesman Lopez.

Wilkerson's relatives could not be reached for comment on Thursday. At a news conference earlier, they thanked those who helped search for the teen's body, television stations reported.

Neighbors and friends said Moralez is a friend of Wilkerson's sister's boyfriend. Wilkerson and Moralez knew each other; the teen had given Moralez a lift in his truck before.

Wilkerson was a quiet teenager from a private family and was "solid in his faith," a neighbor said.

Brazoria County court records show Pearland police spotted Moralez on Tuesday walking along a ditch near the 500 block of Broadway, the area where Wilkerson's Toyota Tacoma pickup was later found.

Identifying himself only as Milo, Moralez told police officers that he had last seen Wilkerson at their school.

The officers noticed Moralez seemed nervous and shook during questioning. One of the officers saw what appeared to be a prominent, fresh scratch running along the left side of his face from his eyebrow to his neck. When asked about the scratch, Moralez told police that he didn't know how it got there, according to the court records.

Three charges filed
During later questioning, Moralez eventually gave investigators his full name but refused to provide his address. He was taken into custody and charged with failure to identify himself — the first of three criminal charges that would be filed against him within the next several hours.

His accounts of the events leading to Wilkerson's death varied, according to the court records.

At first, he said Wilkerson offered him a ride in the Toyota Tacoma after school Tuesday and a fight began. It ended when Moralez grabbed a rod-like piece of wood and began striking Wilkerson with it.

"Hermilo said that he had beaten Joshua pretty bad and (he was) bleeding from the nose and mouth. Hermilo described what happened to Joshua and (being) very violent and claiming that Joshua was messed up," the court document stated.

Moralez said he then climbed into the pickup and drove away, leaving Wilkerson behind, records show. He parked the truck next to a shopping center and threw Wilkerson's shoes and backpack into a trash bin, records show.

As the search for Wilkerson continued, Moralez then refused to tell the detectives where Wilkerson's body could be found, officials said.

"At one point, Hermilo stated that Joshua kind of 'melted' into the ground and is gone," according to the court records.

Moralez spoke with a woman that he lived with, then led investigators late Wednesday to an area near the dead end of FM 518, court records show.

When one investigator started to climb a fence at the site, Moralez tried to grab the officer's pistol from its holster, police said. He was restrained and returned to the jail in Pearland. A second charge was filed against him for attempting to take the weapon, authorities said.

Detectives could see that Wilkerson's body, with hands and feet both bound, had been partially burned, according to court records.

Moralez would later tell officials that the two were at his father's home when Wilkerson was killed, the court document said. Moralez said he beat Wilkerson on the back patio near a barbecue pit and threw the wooden rod into a field next to the house, according to the court records.

Blood found on patio
Police obtained a search warrant for the home and field next door. They found a large amount of blood on the patio and a wooden rod with blood on one end in the field.

Moralez is being held without bail on the murder charge.

In May, Moralez was arrested by a Brazoria County Sheriff's deputy and charged with misdemeanor harassment. In that case, he was listed as a citizen of Belize, a district court clerk said on Thursday.

http://oneoldvet.com/

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 01363.html

ICE Investigating Pearland Teen Murder Suspect

Funeral arraingements made for Joshua Wilkerson

Updated: Friday, 19 Nov 2010, 6:29 PM CST
Published : Friday, 19 Nov 2010, 6:12 PM CST


JOHN PERERA
Web Producer

PEARLAND, Texas - Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is investigating the immigration status of a Pearland ISD student accused of killing his classmate and burning his body in a field.

An ICE official says the agency put a “detainerâ€

Look at the smug look on this criminaliens face.....think he feels nothing will happen to him??

No details have been released on the immigration status of Moralez, but the ICE official says he wants to stress the importance of the state charges against the suspect rather than his immigration status.

He's smiling like a psychopath.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

No details have been released on the immigration status of Moralez, but the ICE official says he wants to stress the importance of the state charges against the suspect rather than his immigration status.

Obama through Napolitano issued a gag order on illegal aliens. They are hiding the truth. This is what Obama calls transparency.

Premeditated murder/Murder 1. Where did he get the rope to tie up the person or the match/lighter to start the fire.

His father is a permanent resident. Chain migration????

Dixie

added to homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article5856.html

I think this may be gang hit. Pearland is in Brazoria Co. but the body was dumped in Fort Bend.
There seems to be a lot of drug and gang activity in Fort Bend, TX

Missing U.S. teen among 3 found dead in Mexico
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-197828-fort.html+bend

TX: 3.5 Ton Drug Bust
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-961570.html#961570

MS-13 suspects arrested
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-84450-fort.html+bend

Suspect in Pearland teenager's death could be illegal immigrant
by Tiffany Craig / 11 News

kvue.com

Posted on November 20, 2010 at 9:27 AM

PEARLAND, Texas —A Pearland teenager who admitted to beating a fellow student to death went to see a movie after the act, his best friend and roommate Geoffrey Weis said Friday.

Pearland police said Hermilo Moralez killed Josh Wilkerson Tuesday. Weis said that same day they went to see the 3D cartoon "Megamind," and didn’t see anything different about his friend.

"I went to a movie afterwards with him and he didn’t act distraught or scared or anything," said Weis. "You would never think your best friend would kill somebody until he actually does."

The victim, 18-year-old high school student, Josh Wilkerson, was first reported missing on Tuesday. His body was eventually found beaten, bound, burned and left in the woods.

Police showed up at Weis’ front door after Wilkerson’s truck was found abandoned in a parking lot near Weis’ house.

"They seemed very strict, very hardcore with me," said Weis."They were like, ’do you know Milo?’"

Weis claims Moralez, who he calls Milo, told him the story, but it was Weis’ mother who got Moralez to confess to police.

Moralez faces a list of charges, from murder to tampering with evidence.

Meanwhile, ICE officials on Friday placed a hold on Moralez, who they claim is in the country illegally.

"We typically take that to mean that the detainer is in the country illegally," said Lt. Onesimo Lopez of the Pearland Police Department.

Weis said Moralez’s family moved to Pearland from Belize. He said Moralez moved in with him after several domestic incidents.

"He had some arguments at his house with his parents and they just didn’t want him to live there anymore," said Weis.

Weis said his best friend’s parents had green cards at one point in time. According to police, Moralez’s father moved back to Belize. His mother’s whereabouts is unknown.

Moralez was being held in jail Friday without bond. He is also awaiting trial on an unrelated harassment charge.

Wilkerson’s funeral arrangements were announced Friday afternoon.

A visitation is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 21 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Crowder Funeral Home in Pearland.

The funeral service will take place Monday, Nov. 22 at 11 a.m. at Sagemont Church.

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/109459309.html

No No and again NO

this is just a fine upstanding young man who will benefit from the dream act

Racist scum, how dare you be so intolerant of migrant youth?

This is a future democrat leader in the making

He has already had at least one run-in with the law but under the Obama immigration enforcement plan, he was cut loose because his crimes were in the process of escalating and he hadn't gotten caught and convicted of a "serious offense". Obama's illegal alien utopia, a sanctuary country.


Dixie