Saturday, May 12, 2007

SO, WHERE'S THE END?

05.11.07
CBP busts convicted sex offender attempting to sneak into US
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May 11, 2007 03:14 PM CDT


EL PASO, Tx. - Customs and Border Protection agents arrest a convicted child sex offender after trying to cross the border into the US.
CBP Officials tell ABC-7 that 57-year old Ejinardo Barajas-Tinoco was caught on Thursday night by agents using night vision equipment. Officials say Barajas was trying to cross the Rio Grande 6 miles east of the Ysleta Port of Entry.
After detaining him, officials then discovered he had been deported once before after serving 7 years in a Pennsylvania prison after being convicted of 3 sex crimes.
CBP officials say Barajas is in Border Patrol custody. He will be criminally prosecuted and then sent back to Mexico.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=6502904&nav=AbC0

Thursday, May 10, 2007

JURY FINDS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT GUILTY OF RAPING 64-YEAR-OLD


KRIS TV
NUECES COUNTY, TX - A Nueces County jury reached a guilty verdict at about 5 p.m. in the trial of an illegal immigrant who’s accused of raping an elderly woman in her Annaville home. Testimony wrapped up with emotional appeals to the jury from the prosecution and defense.
The jury deliberated for about two hours after hearing emotional closing arguments from the prosecution, who described the agonizing ordeal the victim lived through - so painful, she thought she thought she was dying.
“Terrible, brutal, vicious, inhuman, you could say these were acts committed by an animal,” Prosecutor Bill Ainsworth said.
Ainsworth described how 22-year-old Eugenio Sandoval brutally raped a 64-year-old woman. The victim sat behind her alleged attacker as Ainsworth tried to convince the jury to find him guilty.
“I don’t think your going to have any doubt or any problem coming to the conclusion, to the poor victim in this case,” he said.
Ainsworth reminded the jury that Sandoval’s skin cells were found on a bra that was used to tie the woman to her bed during the horrific ordeal.
“She was punched in the face; she was urinated on, and was brutally raped,” Ainsworth said. “Every way that someone could be raped.”
Sandoval’s attorney said Sandoval admitted to breaking into the woman’s home, but denied raping the woman, and burglarizing her home. He told the jury that there isn’t enough evidence for a guilty verdict.
Sandoval’s attorney said another man who was with him that night committed the rape.
“I use the word to describe my client as a sacrificial lamb,” Defense attorney Jim Lawrence said. “That’s what we have here.”
But the jury felt Sandoval was guilty on all charges. The punishment phase of the trial begins Thursday. He now faces as much as life in prison.

http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=6494129

SUSAN BIEGER-SHARKUS

Published: 05.09.2007
Mexican charged in traffic death of woman on O'odham land
DAVID L. TEIBELTucson Citizen

A Mexican man has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the traffic death of a woman last month on the Tohono O'odham Nation, a tribal police detective said this morning.
Susan Bieger-Sharkus, 53, was on her way to Rocky Point when she was fatally broadsided by a pickup hauling 1,500 pounds of marijuana, said Detective Marty Fuentes, head of the Tohono O'odham police vehicular offenses detail.
Jose Miguel Ramirez-Soto, 22, of Culiacan, Mexico, was charged with murder under the felony murder law, which allows for such a charge if someone dies during the commission of certain crimes, such as drug smuggling, even if the person charged was not the actual killer.
Bieger-Sharkus had been driving West Ajo Highway around 5:45 p.m. April 27 when the pickup ran the stop sign at the Federal Route 1 intersection and struck her car, Fuentes said.
Ramirez-Soto was a passenger in the truck believed to have been driven by a relative, Fuentes said. The Tucson Citizen is neither naming the driver nor another passenger, both thought to be hiding in Mexico, as they have not been charged in the case. All three men are believed to have been in the United States illegally, Fuentes said.
Though the trio fled the collision, Ramirez-Soto's injuries prevented his getaway.
He was arrested about 3 pm. Tuesday upon release from Maricopa Medical Center in the Phoenix area and taken to Pima County Jail, Fuentes said.
In addition to the murder charge, Ramirez-Soto also has been booked on suspicion of transportation of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, Fuentes said.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/51074.php

MATTHEW WATSON

Driver in U.S. illegally, records say
Mexican accused of drunken driving in UM student's death
By Melissa Harris
sun reporter
Originally published May 9, 2007

A man accused of drunken driving in a crash that killed a University of Maryland sophomore was in the country illegally and carrying a fake Social Security card and a green card purchased in Texas, according to court records filed yesterday.Never L. Navarro-Montoya was driving an acquaintance's blue Ford Ranger without a driver's license when he hit an oncoming Jeep Cherokee that was making a left turn from University Boulevard to Metzerott Road in College Park about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, killing 20-year-old Matthew Watson of Ellicott City, according to police.
It was unclear from police reports which driver had the right of way at the intersection.Prince George's County police charged Narravo-Montoya, 24, of Greenbelt, with driving under the influence of alcohol, fleeing the scene of an accident and possession of false government identification, according to court records. Navarro-Montoya told police he was from Mexico.Watson, who attended the College Park campus, was a front-seat passenger in the Jeep. He graduated in 2005 from Centennial High School, where he was a lineman on the football team and played saxophone in the band.This was the second time in less than six months that an undocumented immigrant has been charged in a fatal accident involving a Howard County resident.In November, Eduardo Raul Morales-Soriano, a Laurel landscaper from Mexico, was charged with vehicular homicide and drunken driving in a Thanksgiving night crash at Routes 175 and 108 that killed a Columbia Marine home on leave and his date from Montgomery County.Morales-Soriano is awaiting trial in Howard County Circuit Court, after having registered a 0.32 blood-alcohol level on a Breathalyzer - four times the legal limit, court records say.In the most recent crash, the charging documents state that a witness watched Navarro-Montoya jump out of the Ranger after the crash and flee on foot. About four hours later, passers-by found Navarro-Montoya lying on the grass off of University Boulevard about one-third of a mile from the scene and called police.Cpl. S. Ainsworth of the Prince George's County police detected a strong odor of alcohol on Navarro-Montoya's breath and arrested him. Investigators were awaiting the results of a blood test taken at Washington Adventist Hospital, where Navarro-Montoya was treated for cuts to the left side of his head."He didn't have a driver's license from Maryland or any other state," said Cpl. Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Prince George's County Police Department.Police said two other occupants of the Jeep, which rolled over, were treated at a hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening. Police declined to release the Jeep driver's identity.According to charging documents, Navarro-Montoya said of the Social Security and the permanent resident cards in his possession, "I bought them in Texas, I'm from Mexico."Navarro-Montoya lived in an apartment on Springhill Lane. A man who answered the phone at Navarro-Montoya's address and identified himself as a relative declined to provide details about the man. It was unknown yesterday how long Navarro-Montoya has lived in the United States. He was being held at the Prince George's County Correctional Center on $750,000 bond, according to court records.Friends and family said Watson was known for his one-liners and quick wit.He would purposely park his car in the middle of the parking lot reserved for marching band practice. "That's so mischievous," his mother, Barbara Watson, said as one of her younger sons retold the story. "Of course, I'm sure they knew whose car it was because he was in the band. He loved to play in the jazz band. He loved music."His friend, Alex Blatter, now a sophomore at Pennsylvania State University, said that in addition to stalling marching band practice, Watson once arrived at school wearing six or seven polo shirts - one on top another - as a parody of some of the preppier students at Centennial."A lot of kids would come wearing [two polo shirts] at our school," said Blatter, who knew Watson since fourth grade. "It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen."His football coach, Jamie Wagner, said that he had heard that Watson had a smart sense of humor, but added that he never saw that side of him. He said Watson took football "very seriously," describing him as a model student-athlete and teammate."He kind of fit into every social group in the school," Wagner said. "He wasn't in one particular [clique]. He just fit in with everybody. As a football coach, it's important to have a person with that kind of character on your team because he can build bridges between different groups."

Watson's team lost every game during his senior year except the last one - the first time the team played at home under the lights.As students stormed the field, Watson, a lineman, ripped out a piece of turf and later planted it in a terracotta pot that sits on the patio beside his family's pool. His parents plan to tend to the turf now, almost as a mini-memorial to their son, the oldest of five children.
Barbara Watson said that the team's victory in its last game was "an incredibly memorable moment" for her son."Being a lineman, it's not a glamorous position by any stretch of the imagination," the coach said. "He did the job, he did it well, and he did it quietly. He never complained about not getting the glory."Barbara Watson said that she did not know where her son was headed on the night of his death but that she hoped to learn more information from friends at a memorial service from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection, 3175 Paulskirk Drive, Ellicott City.Watson was a member of Theta Chi fraternity and a former Boy Scout and altar boy at the Church of the Resurrection.Two scholarships are being established in Watson's name at Centennial High School - one for a football player to attend summer training camp and the other for a student who participates in music and sports to attend the University of Maryland.In addition to his mother, he is survived by his father, Gavin Watson; three brothers, Mark, Stephen and Paul Watson; and a sister, Katharine Watson.mattwatsonfund.org
http://www.baltimoresun.com/about/bal-reporterfeedback,0,4526743.htmlstory?recipient=melissa.harris@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Bradley Olson contributed to this article.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-md.ho.crash09may09,0,5161508.story?coll=bal-local-howard