Texas Border Business
LAREDO, Texas – While the community celebrated the birth of our nation over Fourth of July weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Laredo Port of Entry helped keep our neighborhoods safe by apprehending three men wanted on outstanding felony state warrants for sex-related crimes involving children in three separate enforcement actions.
“As our friends and neighbors celebrated the Fourth of July weekend with civic events and backyard barbecues, our frontline CBP officers did their part to keep our community safe by apprehending three men on outstanding warrants for sex-related offenses involving children,” said Port Director Alberto Flores, Laredo Port of Entry. “The apprehension of wanted persons for these kinds of crimes underscores the importance of the border security mission of CBP and the resolve of our officers to uphold that mission.”
The most recent fugitive apprehension occurred on Monday, July 4, 2022, at Juarez-Lincoln Bridge. A CBP officer inspecting vehicular traffic arriving from Mexico, referred commercial bus passenger Ramon Benedicto Gonzalez Zamora, a 61-year-old male lawful permanent U.S. resident, for a secondary inspection. After escorting the passenger to secondary, subsequent biometric verification through law enforcement databases confirmed that the subject had an outstanding felony warrant for two counts of aggravated rape of a child out of the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office in Gallatin, Tenn. The warrant was confirmed to be active. The passenger was turned over to Laredo police officers for transport to Webb County jail to await criminal proceedings.
The other two fugitive apprehensions occurred on Saturday, July 2, 2022, also at Juarez-Lincoln Bridge. In one incident, CBP officers referred vehicle passenger Juan Alonso Osorio, a 55-year-old male U.S. citizen for secondary examination, during which CBP officers confirmed an outstanding felony state warrant for indecency with a child from Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. In the second incident, CBP officers referred vehicle passenger Jose Guadalupe Velasquez Vera, a 38-year-old male U.S. citizen for secondary examination, during which CBP officers confirmed an outstanding felony state warrant for indecent exposure to a minor from Sampson County Sheriff’s Office in Clinton, N.C. In both incidents, the vehicle passengers were turned over to Laredo police officers for transport to Webb County jail to await criminal proceedings.
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a centralized automated database designed to share information among law enforcement agencies including outstanding warrants for a wide range of offenses. Based on information from NCIC, CBP officers have made previous arrests of individuals wanted for homicide, escape, money laundering, robbery, narcotics distribution, sexual child abuse, fraud, larceny, and military desertion. Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
