U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 98 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 98 border-related cases this week, including charges of bringing in aliens for financial gain, reentering the U.S. after deportation, and importation of controlled substances.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California is the fourth-busiest federal district, largely due to a high volume of border-related crimes. This district, encompassing San Diego and Imperial counties, shares a 140-mile border with Mexico. It includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world’s busiest land border crossing, connecting San Diego (America’s eighth largest city) and Tijuana (Mexico’s second largest city).

In addition to reactive border-related crimes, the Southern District of California also prosecutes a significant number of proactive cases related to terrorism, organized crime, drugs, white-collar fraud, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking and national security. Recent developments in those and other significant areas of prosecution can be found here.

A sample of border-related arrests this week:

• On December 6, Rodrigo Banuelos Garrafa and Anselmo Ramirez Romero, Mexican nationals, were arrested and charged with Attempted Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain during a maritime smuggling event. In the same incident, Jose Luis Castro-Lopez, Sandra Morales Tellez, Lidia Manuela Reyes Aroche and Daniela Tocohua Perez – also Mexican nationals - were arrested and charged with Attempted Entry after Deportation. According to a complaint, 11 people aboard a 26-foot vessel were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard about 22 miles west of San Diego. Banuelos Garrafa was identified as the boat captain; Ramirez Romero as the co-captain. The defendants plus five other passengers were transported to the Ballast Point Coast Guard station and turned over to Border Patrol.
• On December 9, Jesus Guadalupe Quintero Gastelum, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry found 46 packages concealed in the wooden planks of a flatbed trailer being towed by the defendant’s truck when he attempted to cross the border. The packages contained 453 pounds of methamphetamine.
• On December 10, Gagik Verdyan, a citizen of Armenia, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. Verdyan was intercepted by San Pascual Tribal Police and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Verdyan was previously removed from the U.S. in 2017 from New York City.

Also recently, some defendants with criminal records were sentenced for border-related crimes such as illegally re-entering the U.S. after previous deportation. Here’s an example:

• On December 12, Jonathan Ivan Moreno-Hernandez, who was previously convicted of assault, attempted murder, voluntary manslaughter, theft, and vandalism, was sentenced in federal court to 18 months imprisonment for again entering the United States illegally.

The immigration cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with the support and assistance of state and local law enforcement partners.

Indictments and criminal complaints are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.