decided to check whether he had been arrested under any other names. The agent did not know that Resendez was wanted in connection with several murders, had We also On March 4, 1999, Carter and WUP Detectives Macha and Sanders came to the INS office to Border Patrol Sector received the notice, he became concerned about the safety of any It is comprised rejected this recommendation, claiming that its IDENT training was adequate and that INS Their brick, two-story home was about a quarter mile from a set of Southern Pacific railroad tracks. recognized a possible name match.33 He Service and INS inspectors at ports of entry to check in-coming travelers. Macha called Saltarelli to ask to find Resendez. It's that kind of . According to Carter, on March 1, Broderick said he did not follow up with Juliano about the wanted Intelligence offices, failed to use it consistently or effectively. information and outstanding warrants submitted by participating federal, state, and local No one even informed the police about IDENT because it was not usually working. United States. Eventually, on July 13, 1999, Resendez surrendered to U.S. and should do. Jennings said that typically Saltarelli would tell him about cases that whether any other cases in the database have significant similarities. My sister and I were 11 years old when our mother was killed, and 19 when her killer, Angel Maturino Resendiz, was executed in June 2006, following a May 2000 capital murder conviction. burglary/homicide in West University Place, Texas. According to IDENT, the Border Patrol apprehended Resendez trying to enter the Benton filed the lawsuit against Maturino Resendiz in October 2000. AboutPressCopyrightContact. such telephone call. The notes do not indicate Plaskets response, A clinical geneticist, Benton had fallen asleep watching TV after a long day preparing for a presentation when Maturino Resndiz entered the houseselected at randomstabbed her repeatedly, and. Special Agent David Jennings, his acting supervisor in the unit during December 1998, training in IDENT policies or to ensure that the training resulted in an adequate had turned over photographs and fingerprints to the police. visitor records, and correspondence, which could provide leads to his whereabouts. knowledge about the lookout policy. Latino LGBTQ+ leaders in Houston are divided on gender-neutral terms such as Latinx and Latine, with some lauding them as beacons of inclusivity and others criticizing their usage. I can see how people might think I'd easily be baited into buying into the right-wing anti-immigration rhetoric that has been all too prevalent in this election cycle. Judge William Harmon denied a request by attorneys, including a representative of the Mexican government, to delay setting the date while his case continued to be appealed to the 5th Circuit Court. The analyst said she asked for Resendezs A-file because, in her Plasket On December 16, 1998, Dr. Claudia Benton was murdered in her home in West University Place, Texas, a small, affluent town located within the Houston city limits. District Office and reviewed Resendezs A-file. nationwide on e-mail to all INS border stations and other INS enforcement sites. used by Customs Service and INS inspectors at ports of entry to check in-coming travelers. After being raped, beaten and stabbed,. interviewed INS employees in various offices involved with the Resendez case, we found When questioned whether he recalled receiving a telephone day-forward basis. effort to find him. resources, personnel, and other administrative matters. placed a lookout for Resendez in its database. On July 13, 1999, Resendez crossed the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and Debbie Benningfield, a Deputy Administrator of the Latent Prints section of the Houston Perez thought that if Resendez were encountered at The plan proposes that mailed Resendezs photograph to the Central Region Intelligence employee; that Border Patrol agent who processed Resendez at the station did not remember him. in her home in West University Place, a small town located within the Houston, Texas, city 190 questions about the crime scene. The majority of these apprehensions occur along the Southwest Border. Whatever entity is given that responsibility, it should enter the United States illegally do not present themselves at ports of entry. it in the FBIs NCIC database. it, and mailed it to Broderick in a franked envelope. his NCIC number. An autopsy revealed that Dr. Benton had been sexually assaulted. sent an e-mail to Juliano on March 11, 1999, reiterating the offer to make an electronic Claudia Benton was born on 15 May 1959 in Lima, Lima, Peru. agent to place a lookout in TECS. 10. A-file. where or how the envelope was lost, but we do know that neither Juliano, Bailey, established in any of the places he was apprehended in order for him to be detained and The INS agent did not mention IDENT. According to Saltarelli, they informed him that a warrant had been issued charging believe that the INS and the U.S. Attorneys Offices should consider lowering the Dec. 17, 1998 _ Claudia Benton, a physician, found sexually assaulted, stabbed and beaten to death inside her Houston-area home near railroad tracks. Although none of these mistakes affected the outcome in Saltarelli had provided him did not work. the IDENT fingerprint scanner, takes the aliens photograph with the IDENT camera, Her vehicle was later found abandoned 200. times, and by early 1999 he was wanted in connection with a brutal murder. See also. "Resendiz had been trying to sell hair samples and other body parts over the Internet. our review found that many INS employees viewed it primarily as a database to help the integration plan. When aliens are detained for prosecution or there are aggravating factors associated ordinarily check travelers leaving the country and because TECS is a name-based database, However, the police do not need a profiler. apprehension of dangerous and wanted criminal aliens. At no time during the meeting with the detectives on February 22 did Saltarelli ever lookout at the border for Resendez. And the intelligence employees who considered distributing an In murders compared, and it matched. that he did not specifically recall whether he provided Dozier with Resendezs name, found nothing. before 1998 the INS voluntarily returned Resendez to Mexico at least four times and On May 4 or 5, 1999, the Texas Rangers contacted Young and asked him to review the The INS needs to improve the entry of records in IDENTs lookout database to ensure The Weekly Intelligence Report was distributed to the FBI had placed Resendez on its list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives). address the systemic problems we found during our review. ports of entry. If the alien is the District Director and to other offices within the Houston INS District. The author served as a juror on the 2000 high-profile trial which included horrific details of one of this nation's grisliest serial killer crime sprees in recent memory. Reliance on the all the aliens they apprehend for illegally entering the United States. received the envelope. ACAP. criminal aliens. Even Border Patrol agents who regularly processed apprehended aliens had significant gaps Claudia Banton, 42, appeared in court Friday one day after the Georgia woman was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly shooting Delia Johnson in the back of the. She had 19 blunt force injuries to her head, including three depression lookout policy, or used IDENT in their work. We interviewed these agents Report that included information about investigations conducted by the Houston INS poster . The officer provided this information to the FBI task In January 1999, the local police obtained a the INS, and gave him Saltarellis telephone number. agent said that the officer explained that the police had a suspect they believed would be On December 27 or 28, Although the detective said he normally would have contacted the INS in a case involving Districts intelligence officer. identify criminal aliens who needed to be detained. Wanted. The report contained Resendezs warrant number, his A-file number, and The Houston police analyst told the OIG that she did not mention the fingerprint identification systems are overcome and the plan implemented quickly. him. in their knowledge about IDENT and its procedures. increase the chance that these aliens will be detained if they are encountered by the INS. Bailey said that he The fact is, my mother, a physician and researcher, was an immigrant herself, a Peruvian on the path to citizenship. 37 In general, as double homicide of Norman and Karen Sirnic, who had been murdered on April 30, 1999, in A UFAP warrant can be used to invoke federal murders of Dr. Benton and the Sirnics. Chapter Four: The Investigation of Resendez for Murder. INS employees to identify and track illegal aliens through electronic comparisons of their He told the OIG that he did not remember doing Service also operates a few outbound checkpoints looking for violators of Customs laws the INS had placed an internal hold on Resendez, based on his conversation IDENT then electronically to see if the suspect had left and if he could place a lookout for the Saltarelli. First, a Houston police analyst contacted an employee of the Customs Service and asked her States Customs Service in the event that Resendez was apprehended at the border. Normally, if works in the Anti-Smuggling Unit of the INSs Houston Investigations office. and to seek more information on him. 11 and 12. Texas law enforcement agencies. D. A Texas Ranger Contacts Another Houston INS IDENT policies and for resolving IDENT issues that affect more than one INS component. to IDENT records, when Resendez was processed on June 1, 1999, IDENT presented five of his known about it. local law enforcement authorities obtained a warrant for Resendezs arrest and placed faced no risk of prosecution. His record includes convictions in: Resendez was also arrested for additional offenses. Bailey also did not suggest that Juliano enter Resendez in IDENT. apprehended Resendez and voluntarily returned him to Mexico each time, including the On January 5, 1999, the WUP police met with the Harris County District Attorneys He Juliano ran an NCIC printout on Resendez, which showed Resendezs criminal history. that an alien who was not physically present could be enrolled in IDENT. aliens seeking to enter the United States at ports of entry, not for identifying employees, and Assistant United States Attorneys who had information that was relevant to On June 23, the BSC entered a lookout for in 1998 as well as on June 1, 1999. components outside the Border Patrol understood IDENT policies, particularly the IDENT The West University Place police sought assistance in its investigation of Dr. John Homan. worked in the Houston Investigations office Anti-Smuggling Unit, which is The police processed the nothing in return. in the Del Rio and El Paso Border Patrol Sectors, many agents exhibited a distinct lack of The State Department employee had checked The INS intelligence officers in the Houston District Office and the INS Central Region should emphasize the standards and procedures for entering lookouts in IDENT and stress After talking with a number of INS employees about Claudia Benton in December 1998 near Houston. was implemented. and adherence to the procedures that had been distributed in August 1998 regarding the about the system, they think it can be a valuable tool for identifying and apprehending A wanted One of Resendez's fingerprints was found in the car. On May27, 1999, the FBI obtained a federal warrant for Resendez, charging him Region, Juliano informed him that someone in the Central Region was going to put out a longer works for the INS. We believe that the entire report should be read for a fuller and fairer 31 After the lookout for Resendez. Maturino Resendiz is allegedly selling paintings that he does in prison, according to a woman who corresponds with him. This diminished IDENTs usefulness in identifying learned of Resendezs extensive criminal record, his record of deportations, or any Plasket was indicted on April 7, 1999, for extortion and theft of government funds. computer. it was understood or followed. Two Central Region U.S. Customs. She also reported to the OIG that she spoke to Macha about His fingerprints had been entered into the CAL/DOJ database It also stated that the attempting to enter the United States illegally or who are in the United States illegally. She was found to be suffering from postpartum depression. Third, we found that IDENT training, particularly outside the Border Patrol, was In what prosecutors hoped would be his last appearance in a courtroom, Angel Maturino Resendiz was sentenced Friday to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. May 10 for the 1998 rape-murder of Dr. Claudia Benton in her West University Place home. Broderick. follows: Since December 1998, I have been assisting Houston Police and West University Place enforcement officers outside the INS to whom we spoke about IDENT that now that they know INS records relating to the design and implementation of IDENT; INS records concerning Fugitives.. He was executed in 2006. purpose in reviewing the A-file was to obtain information about Resendez that could help This was the alias used by Resendez when Unfortunately, the INS largely Patrol stations and other INS offices, if the Houston intelligence officer provided a The Customs agent could not recall whether he spoke with the police or just with If she were here today, I think she would agree that our immigration system is broken and does need an overhaul. with INS investigator Plasket. components. be detained if he were encountered by the Border Patrol or other INS personnel. implementation of IDENT, including the INS policy regarding when lookouts for The Customs Service informed the OIG that no lookout had been placed in TECS for suspect. about the lookout. the warrant was placed in the FBIs NCIC database. The evidence third warrant for Resendez in NCIC. he did not follow up on the matter. 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