Affidavit: Laredo CBP officer circumvented COVID-19 restrictions to bring caretaker from Mexico
Feb. 16, 2021
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A CBP agent was arrested for allegedly smuggling her caretaker into the country.Courtesy
A CBP officer in Laredo has been arrested accused of using another officer’s login information to allow the caretaker of her mother and children into the United States from Mexico, avoiding COVID-19 protocols for non-essential travel, according to an arrest affidavit.
Rhonda Lee Walker was charged with falsify, conceal or cover up by any trick, scheme or device a material fact; make false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation; knowing or reckless disregard of the fact that an immigrant remained in the United States; and transport, attempt to transport and conspire to transport the immigrant.
They tracked down a wire payment they said Officer Walker made to the housekeeper’s family in Mexico, and obtained video of the officer walking out to the middle of the border crossing bridge on Jan. 2 and escorting the woman into the U.S., jumping the line of people waiting. Officer Walker then used another officer’s login to finish the admissions process for the housekeeper.
Authorities said Officer Walker arranged the entry despite pandemic restrictions that should have barred the woman because her travel was not essential.
Internal affairs agents were on hand last week when Ms. Trevino-SanMiguel tried to reenter the U.S., and confronted her. She admitted she was being used as a housekeeper.
Death in Calhoun County Jail Thought to be From Natural Causes
An ICE detainee died in the Calhoun County Jail on Friday. A release from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department said the man died at 11:38 a.m. on February 5
th. The release states that the man is a U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee. The death appears to have resulted from natural causes, and not be related to COVID-19.
58-year-old Jesse Jermone Dean Jr. was a Bahamian national. Dean was arrested by ICE on December 31, 2020, after his release from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons at North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan, following completion of a 30-year federal sentence on charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine, possession, conspiracy to import cocaine, importation of cocaine and use of a communications device in the commission of a felony.
A disbarred lawyer was sentenced today to 180 months in federal prison for stealing more than $4 million from his clients through a variety of means, including collecting fees for work he never performed. The case is the result of an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the State Bar of California.
Shant Ohanian, 38, of Burbank, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt, who stated that he intends at a future date to order Ohanian to pay restitution in an amount exceeding $2.5 million. Ohanian pleaded guilty in June 2019 to one count of wire fraud and has been in federal custody since the following month, when his bond was revoked because of allegations that he was continuing to defraud his clients.
ICE detainee from Mexico passes away from COVID-19 at Piedmont Columbus Regional
ICE detainee from Mexico passes away from COVID-19 at Piedmont Columbus Regional By Alex Jones | February 2, 2021 at 12:21 PM EST - Updated February 3 at 12:35 PM
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A Mexican detainee in the custody of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has died from COVID-19 complications at Piedmont Columbus Regional.
57-year-old Felipe Montes passed away on Jan. 30 after being admitted to the hospital on Jan. 10. Hospital medical officials reported Montes’ primary cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest, secondary to complications of COVID-19.
Montes was placed in ICE custody at the Stewart Detention Center on Dec. 28.