News and Press Releases
Texas man sentenced for escaping from custody
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2012
MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court, a 24-year-old man from Laredo, Texas, was sentenced for escaping federal custody. United States District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz sentenced Gerardo Martin Lopez, Jr., to eight months in prison on one count of escape from custody. Lopez was indicted on March 5, 2012, and pleaded guilty on May 4, 2012. The sentence is consecutive to the remaining time that Lopez will serve on his 2010 conviction.
In his plea agreement, Lopez admitted that on February 2, 2012, he left and failed to return to the Roseville, Minnesota, halfway house where he was confined as part of a sentence imposed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. In that case, Lopez was sentenced on August 12, 2010, to 37 months of incarceration on one count of possession with intent to distribute in excess of 100 kilograms of marijuana.
Lopez admitted that at 10:45 p.m., on February 2, 2012, he went outside the halfway house to smoke a cigarette. He then cut off his Global Positioning System (“GPS”) monitoring bracelet, which was later found outside the house. He subsequently boarded a Greyhound bus, headed to Laredo, where he was arrested on February 17, 2012. At the time of his escape, Lopez was already facing the possibility of being sent to a higher security facility because of behavioral issues.
This case was the result of an investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin S. Ueland.
