Federal Indictment Unsealed with Second-Degree Murder Charge for the Death of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar

San Diego, CA—United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced today the unsealing of a three count superseding indictment charging Jesus Navarro-Montes with federal narcotics violations and second degree murder in connection with the death of United States Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar on January 19, 2008. According to the superseding indictment, Agent Aguilar was on duty on January 19, 2008, in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area in Imperial County, California, when he was struck and killed by a Hummer H2 driven by Navarro-Montes. The superseding indictment further alleges that Navarro-Montes conspired to distribute marijuana beginning at a date unknown and continuing up to and including January 19, 2008. The superseding indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury sitting in San Diego on May 6, 2009 and unsealed today.

The superseding indictment replaces an initial indictment handed up by a San Diego federal grand jury on February 18, 2009, alleging that Navarro-Montes had possessed with intent to distribute approximately 445 kilograms of marijuana on September 23, 2007. Navarro-Montes is currently in the custody of Mexican law enforcement authorities in Mexico. On March 30, 2009, the United States requested Navarro-Montes’s extradition from Mexico on the original narcotics charge. The United States will now seek Navarro-Montes’s extradition from Mexico on the additional charges added in the May 6, 2009 superseding indictment.

DEFENDANT Case Number: 09cr0577-MMA

Jesus Navarro-Montes Age: 23 Mexico

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Title 18, United States Code, Section 1111 - Second Degree Murder
Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846 and 841(a)(1) - Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana
Title 21,United States Code, Section 841(a)(1) - Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute

PARTICIPATING AGENCIES

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Drug Enforcement Administration
United States Customs and Border Protection - Border Patrol - El Centro and Yuma Sectors

An indictment is not evidence that the defendant committed the crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent until the Government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.