Honduran Asylum-Recipient Sentenced for Smuggling Migrants — For Third Time
A Honduran migrant will spend six and a half years in prison for his third conviction on human smuggling charges. The Honduran man had been smuggling migrants for more than nine years — some of that time while he was under asylum protection.
This week, 41-year-old Marlon Enrique “Gordo” Gallegos Rapalo appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in McAllen, Texas. The judge sentenced him to six and a half years in prison. Gallegos pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges earlier this year following an arrest in July 2022.
According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Gallegos was living in the U.S. under asylum protection — meaning that he could not be deported at the time of his multiple offenses. Court documents show that he had been arrested several times and had been sent to prison two times before, once in 2015 and once in 2017, on human smuggling charges. During the sentencing hearing, Crane said Gallegos had “committed a serious abuse of the system” and ordered that he be deported after completing his sentence.
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According to prosecutors, Gallegos leased a house in McAllen and used it to house more than 200 migrants who were being moved into the country and on to the north. At the time of his arrest in July 2022, authorities found 35 migrants inside the stash house.
A criminal complaint from October 2014 revealed that Gallegos helped carry out a smuggling attempt where they used scouts and various vehicles to move migrants in and out of a stash house. After authorities raided that house, they found 15 migrants and learned that Gallegos had also been arrested in February 2014 but his charges had been “dropped.” Court documents do not reveal a reason for the dismissal of the charges. In the October 2014 case, Gallegos pleaded guilty and received a prison sentence of one year and four months.
In February 2017, federal authorities arrested Gallegos near McCook, Texas, where he was in charge of a stash house. Court documents revealed that Gallegos would bring food and water and coordinate the migrants being taken and removed from the house. In that case, Gallegos also pleaded guilty and received a prison sentence of two years and three months.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
4-Time Deported Migrant Pleads Not Guilty to Capital Murder of Honduran Migrants in East Texas
COLDSPRING, Texas — Francisco Torres Oropeza pleaded not guilty in an East Texas court on Capital Murder charges related to the alleged murder of five Honduran migrants. The Hondurans, including a young child, lived next door to Oropeza at the time of the reported shooting deaths.
Francisco Oropeza appeared before 411th District Court Judge John Wells III for arraignment on charges he murdered five Honduran migrants in April who lived next door to his house near Cleveland, Texas. The San Jacinto County grand jury indicted Oropeza on June 28 for the capital murder of two of the five alleged victims.
As Breitbart Texas watched, San Jacinto County District Attorney presented the Capital Murder indictment to the court and Oropeza on Thursday in Coldspring, Texas. Houston defense attorney Anthony Osso contested the spelling of the defendant’s name on the indictment. Mr. Oropeza spoke to the judge and indicated the spelling was “Oropeza” not “Oropesa.” The judge ordered the indictment to be amended to reflect the changed spelling.
Attorney Osso went on to request access to evidence regarding the dispatching records and the GPS locations of all deputies units that were on duty on the night of the alleged mass-murder. At one point, Osso appeared to indicate that the sheriff’s office could have kept the murders from happening if they had arrived sooner.
Osso said the timeline “raises some concerns from a defense standpoint.” “We have reason to believe,” Osso continued, “that this entire incident could have been averted or that action could have been taken to prevent this. It might become a mitigating factor.”
Family members of the five decedents sat in the jury box and watched the proceedings, Breitbart Texas learned from DA Dillon.
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A large contingent of law enforcement provided security inside and outside the courthouse. The contingent included the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Office tactical team and special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives accompanied by K-9 teams.
During the discussions before the judge, Oropeza pleaded not guilty to the single count of Capital Murder. Judge Wells set the next court date for December 7, 2023.
ATF agents provide security outside San Jacinto County Court House during the arraignment of alleged capital murder suspect Francisco Oropeza. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Before the hearing, attorney Osso refused to speak with Breitbart Texas and expressed displeasure over the reporting of Oropeza’s immigration status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials previously told Breitbart that Francisco Oropeza Perez-Torres had been deported from the U.S. on four separate occasions. The first order of removal came in March 2009. He was deported again in September 2009, January 2012, and July 2016.
Following the hearing, Osso spoke with ABC 13 who reported that Osso said there is a lot more to this case and they hope to use that information to avoid a trial. “Those facts become important when we talk to the state about maybe trying to resolve the case,” Osso said.
After an initial hearing in May, Osso told reporters that there was bad blood between his client and the neighbors he allegedly murdered.
“The initial story about asking him not to shoot his gun in the backyard because a baby was sleeping is probably not going to prove to be an accurate version of the events,” Osso said to the group of reporters, including Breitbart Texas. He said his client was initially friends with his Honduran neighbors, but things “started to go downhill” after the neighbor’s dogs went into Oropeza’s yard and killed his sheep and chickens.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers escorts accused killer Francisco Oropeza from a hearing held on May 18 in the courthouse. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers led a multi-agency task force on a four-day manhunt for Oropeza for the alleged murders of five Honduran migrants who lived next door to him.
The victims of the alleged murders were previously identified by Sheriff Capers as:
- Julisa Molina Rivera, age 31
- Sonia Argentina Guzman, age 25
- Diana Velazquez Alvarado, age 21
- Jose Jonathan Casarez, age 18
- Daniel Enrique Laso, age 9
The manhunt for Oropeza ended on May 2 with the arrest of Oropeza in a friend’s house in Cut & Shoot Texas, Breitbart reported.
Oropeza remains in custody in the San Jacinto County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
Mexican Cartel Weapons Found on Border Along Texas Bank of Rio Grande
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents found a small cache of Mexican cartel weapons on the Texas bank of the Rio Grande. This is the second suspected armed cartel incursion incident in the South Texas border town during the month of August.
As migrant apprehensions surge along the Texas border, law enforcement officers face a growing threat of Mexican Cartel violence in South Texas. Border Patrol officials reported the seizure of two cartel rifles and ammunition found Friday on the U.S. bank of the Rio Grande near Fronton, Texas. There were no arrests made in relation to the incident.
In a Friday morning post on “X,” formerly Twitter, Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez of the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Sector highlighted the seizure and stated, “Our U.S. Border Patrol Agents confront threats daily as they do their best to secure our border. Agents working jointly with our L.E. partners made a significant discovery of weapons and ammunition hidden by criminal organizations near Fronton, TX.”
The Border Patrol released photos of the weapons seizure of two rifles, several rifle magazines, and an ammunition carrier. The weapons appear to be an AR-15 style rifle and a Kalashnikov-style rifle. One photo shows the Kalashnikov rifle submerged in the river. The agency did not provide any other information regarding the multi-agency discovery other than to indicate no suspects were arrested in connection with the finding.
The small border town of Fronton, with a population of 167 residents, has been the scene of other cartel-related border activity in recent months. On Saturday, the images of three suspected Mexican cartel gunmen crossing the Rio Grande were captured by law enforcement cameras, according to Fox News report. One of the men depicted in the images on Saturday appeared to be wearing body armor. The three suspected Mexican cartel gunmen were not arrested despite a coordinated effort by the Border Patrol to locate them.
On Friday, an armed cartel gunmen crossed the Rio Grande with a group of migrants. He allegedly pointed the rifle at members of the Texas National Guard patrolling near the international railroad bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, a law enforcement source told Breitbart Texas. A video shows the gunman returning to Mexico dragging a barrel and carrying the rifle.
In June, Department of Public Safety (DPS) Highway Patrol troopers working in the same area arrested five suspected Mexican cartel members and seized two AR-15 style rifles in the same area. In that incident, DPS Spokesperson Lieutenant Chris Olivarez told Breitbart Texas the men were believed to be connected to the Cartel Del Noreste faction of the Los Zetas cartel.
Olivarez told Breitbart Texas, “One of the men told CID special agents they came under fire from Mexican law enforcement and fled across the Rio Grande.” The men were wearing camouflage clothing, complicating the search to find them in the thick brush along the banks of the river.
In addition to the recent incursions by suspected Mexican cartel gunmen, law enforcement agencies are also dealing with a significant surge in migrant crossings in the area. Weekend migrant apprehension numbers provided by the Border Patrol for the Rio Grande Valley Sector show a nearly 200% increase over the last month. A total of 1647 migrants were encountered during the weekend ending July 8. During the weekend ending August 6, the agency reported migrant encounters had climbed to 4,660.
During the first ten days of August, RGV agents apprehended more than 10,000 migrants, according to a confidential law enforcement source. During the same period, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended more than 6,000 migrants.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Bob Price contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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