A
Mexican national wanted for kidnapping in Mexico
was escorted out of the United
States by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers Friday,
November 30, 2012, and turned over to Mexican law enforcement officials.
Joel
Quintero-Cisneros, 30, is wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant in Mexico for
aggravated kidnapping. According to the warrant, dated March 13, the crime
occurred May 6, 2011, in Santa Gertrudis in the Mexican state of Oaxaca at
approximately 9 p.m. Quintero-Cisneros, armed with a .38 caliber handgun, and
two co-conspirators who have already been sentenced, kidnapped the victim – a
mother of three young children – at her home and demanded 1.5 million pesos
(approximately $116,000) in ransom from the victim's relatives.
"Mr.
Quintero-Cisneros will now have to face justice for this alleged horrific
crime," said M. Yvonne Evans, field office director for ERO Washington.
"My office is committed to working closely with our foreign law
enforcement partners to remove and return individuals like this, who are wanted
for violent crimes in their home countries."
Quintero-Cisneros
entered the United States
illegally on an unknown date and at an unknown location. On Aug. 22, ERO's
fugitive operations team apprehended Quintero-Cisneros at his residence in Danville, Va., based on
his illegal status in the United
States.
On
Nov. 1, an immigration judge in Arlington,
Va., granted Quintero-Cisneros
voluntary departure under safeguards. Due to the active warrant in Mexico, ERO
escorted him back to his home country and turned him over to the custody of
Mexican law enforcement officials.
Quintero-Cisneros
was flown via an ERO Air Operations Unit (IAO) charter flight to Valley International
Airport in Harlingen,
Texas, and then escorted by ERO San Antonio's
special response team to the Gateway International Bridge Port of Entry in Brownsville, Texas.
Prior to his removal, Quintero-Cisneros was being held in ERO custody at the
Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth,
Va.
Since
2006, the IAO Unit, headquartered in Kansas
City, Mo., has
supported ERO by providing mass air transportation and removal coordination
services to ERO field offices nationwide. Staffed by ERO officers, these air
charters enable the agency to repatriate large groups of deportees in an
efficient, expeditious and humane manner.
Since
Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 500 foreign fugitives from the United States
who were being sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including
kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with ICE's Office of International
Affairs, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to
identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.
"America's Most Wanted," the television show famously known for helping law enforcement catch some of the country's most hardened criminals, featured Eric Bell on its June 11, 2011 edition.
It is a mother's worst nightmare. Her child ends up in the hands of a monster – sold for sex and treated like a commodity. That's what happened to four young girls, all between 15 and 17 years old, when they met Eric Bell in 2009 and 2010.
That nightmare came to an end Tuesday, September 18, 2012, when Bell and his co-conspirator, Neang Prom, were sentenced to 30 years and three years in federal prison, respectively, on sex trafficking charges. The sentencing resulted from a nearly two-year investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI and the Clearwater Human Trafficking Task Force.
The girls who worked for them knew them as Santana (Bell) and Pocahontas (Prom). The pair preyed on the young and the weak, targeting runaways who had nowhere else to turn. Their victims trusted them, but that trust soon turned to fear. Bell raped and snapped digital images of his victims. He and Prom also marketed the young girls as 18-year-old escorts on websites. The victims were forced to perform sexual acts for fees, never receiving any of the proceeds from prostitution.
"I trusted them with my life, and they took it for granted," said one of the victims in court Monday. "Being forced into prostitution hurt me. I try to forget about it, but I can't. Even now, I think it is okay to sell my body. And it hurts every time I do it. It feels like I am selling my soul to the devil."
The case began after a victim shared statements with a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office detective that indicated she was a victim of sex trafficking. After interviewing her, a detective from the sheriff's office began an Internet search to see if he could track down Pocahontas, who was associated with several Craigslist advertisements and a MySpace account. Investigators linked the ads featuring Pocahontas to an Internet Protocol address used by Prom.
After that, special agents from HSI, the FBI and the Clearwater Human Trafficking Task Force conducted surveillance at Bell and Prom's residence. In July 2010, they executed a federal search warrant at the residence and seized numerous items including firearms, ammunition, body armor, digital cameras, cell phones, computers and more. Searches of the cameras and computers revealed numerous pornographic/sexually explicit photos of the minor victims.
"Bell tried to barricade himself in the attic of his residence to avoid being arrested when we executed the search warrant," said Sue McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. "Our law enforcement partners had to resort to using tear gas so we could arrest him."
Bell, upon his arrest, was interviewed by an HSI and FBI special agent, but subsequently skipped town after making bail.
In January 2011, a criminal complaint was filed in federal court against Bell and Prom for a variety of charges, ranging from production of child pornography to aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of a minor.
HSI and FBI special agents arrested Bell Aug. 31, 2011, in Parsippany, N.J. In February, he pleaded guilty to sex trafficking minors, and in May, Prom pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in the sex trafficking of minors.
"Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes our special agents investigate. This case was particularly unnerving because it involved the sex trafficking of minors," said McCormick. "Thanks to the efforts of HSI, the Clearwater Human Trafficking Task Force and the FBI, Eric Bell can no longer exploit young girls for his own gain."
