Gang members receive additional sentences for assaulting federal officers

Editor's Note:
This matter occurred on date indicated, but not published at that time due to government shutdown. Press release posted and made available following the return to normal operations.   

McALLEN, Texas – Three additional Pasia gang members have been sentenced for their roles in the assault of two federal correctional officers, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Mexican national Oscar Ambrocio Hernandez, 25, pleaded guilty in April, while Ruben Gonzalez-Balderas, 29, also of Mexico, and Roger Emmanuel Lemus, 42, Guatemala, entered their pleas in July.

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton has now imposed a 137-month term of imprisonment for Gonzalez-Balderas, while Lemus and Hernandez received 126 and 57 months, respectively. Not U.S. citizens, all are expected to face removal proceedings following their imprisonment. In handing down the sentences, the court noted surveillance footage of the assault as well as photos displaying each inmate assaulting the officers. At the hearing, the court heard about a drug trafficking conviction for Lemus as well as Gonzalez’s extensive criminal history which includes a conviction for burglary and alien smuggling.

“Federal correctional officers are essential to protecting the public,” said Ganjei. “They perform the critical and difficult task of ensuring that those in custody remain behind bars. The Southern District of Texas will seek severe punishment for criminals or detainees who do them harm.”

In January, 12 inmates at the East Hidalgo Detention Center assaulted two federal correctional officers. The inmates, who were already in custody pending federal immigration charges, outnumbered the officers and repeatedly punched and kicked them. They were housed in a gang-designated unit within the facility. One inmate wielded a sock with a bar of soap as a weapon during the assault. One correctional officer sustained injuries that resulted in multiple staples in his forehead.

Bryan Hernandez-Ruiz, 25, Francisco Antonio Hernandez-Mora, 27, Adrian David Guzman-Salas, 28, David Ramirez-Bautista, 21, Roberto Fabian Garza-Castaneda, 49, Jose Alberto Resendez-Hernandez, 27, and Jose Ramos-Lerma, 45, all of Mexico, also pleaded guilty and were previously sentenced Sept. 10 to terms ranging from 48-114 months.

All have been and will remain in custody.

The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Garcia and Avery Benitez prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.