Border Patrol Apprehends Convicted Murderer and Felony Sex Offender

EL CENTRO, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro Sector arrested a convicted murderer and a convicted sex offender on Friday.

The first incident occurred at around 12:53 p.m., when agents were conducting surveillance at a local motel and encountered a man who was harboring four individuals in a room.   Agents interviewed the man, a U. S. citizen and determined that three adult men and one adult female were illegal aliens who illegally entered the country.  Agents arrested the group and conducted an immigration and criminal history screening in the field before transporting two of the men to the El Centro Station for further processing.

At the station, records check revealed that one of the men, identified as Marcos Flores-Diaz, a 44-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador, was convicted of murder on May 30, 2000 in Santa Ana County.  Flores was sentenced to 20 years in prison and had been previously ordered removed from the United States on September 4, 2019.   

Flores is being held in federal custody pending further criminal prosecution.

The adult male U.S. citizen was booked on charges of alien smuggling.  The other subjects were expelled back to Mexico under Title 42 authority.

The second incident occurred at around 10:46 p.m., when agents assigned to the Calexico Station Remote Video Surveillance Systems observed a man illegally entering the United States approximately three miles east of the Calexico West Downtown Port of Entry.  Agents in the field responded to the area and arrested the man.  Agents then conducted an immigration and criminal history screening in the field before transporting him to the El Centro Station.

Records checks revealed that the man identified as Andres Zavala-Lopez, a 45-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, had a felony conviction on May 15, 1995, for “Annoy or Molest Children” out of Vista.  The man was sentenced to 90 days incarceration and three years probation for his conviction.

Zavala was repatriated back to Mexico.

So far, in fiscal year 2020, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents have arrested and removed 34 individuals either convicted or wanted on sexual offense charges after they entered the United States illegally.

“Both arrests are prime examples of how strong border security protects American citizens,” said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino.  “I shudder to think what may have transpired had these hardened criminals not been stopped at the border.”