Mexican National Wanted for Brutal Assault Arrested in Laredo

LAREDO, TX – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), officers at the Laredo Port of Entry, detained a male subject wanted for rape out of Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“Sexual violence can have serious psychological, emotional and physical effects on a survivor. CBP collaborates with other law enforcement agencies to bring those allegedly committing these offenses to justice,” said Acting Port Director Alberto Flores, Laredo Port of Entry.

The fugitive apprehension occurred on Monday, August 16th, at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge. A CBP officer processing vehicular traffic arriving from Mexico, referred Jose Jorge Romanis Beltran, a 28-year-old male Mexican citizen, 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 rape strong-arm, out of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A rape is considered “strong-arm” if the offender uses force without a weapon. The warrant was confirmed to be active. The subject was turned over to the Webb County Sheriff’s Office 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.