Fourth Man Admits Involvement in Murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, Jr.

SAN DIEGO—A 28-year-old Mexican national entered a guilty plea today in federal court in connection with the July 2009 murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, Jr., admitting he was one of three gunmen who lured the agent into a trap to steal his night-vision goggles and then fatally shot him during a struggle.

Marcos Rodríguez-Perez was arrested by Mexican authorities on April 11, 2011, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and was extradited from Mexico on October 13, 2011, escorted by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Rodríguez-Perez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and kidnapping, robbery of personal property of the United States, and use and carrying of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 58 years in prison.

According to the plea agreement, Rodríguez-Perez admitted that on July 23, 2009, he and four others—Jose Juan Chacon-Morales, Jose Luis Ramirez-Dorantes, Christian Daniel Castro Alvarez, and Emilio Samyn Gonzales-Arenazas—traveled by car and foot to a remote area on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border near Campo, California. All five were carrying firearms and, once at the border, entered into an agreement to rob a U.S. Border Patrol agent of his night vision device.

As Agent Rosas, in uniform and performing his official duties, responded to the area, the defendant entered the U.S. with Castro-Alvarez and Gonzales-Arenazas through a hole in the border fence, while Chacon-Morales and Ramirez-Dorantes remained in Mexico and stood watch. After Agent Rosas exited his vehicle, the defendant, Castro-Alvarez, and Gonzales-Arenazas detained Agent Rosas at gunpoint.

Agent Rosas resisted, and during the ensuing struggle, the defendant, Castro-Alvarez, and Gonzales-Arenazas fired multiple shots at Agent Rosas, killing him. The three men “stole Agent Rosas’s bag, firearm, handcuffs, and night vision device, among other things...and fled back to Mexico,” the plea agreement said. They rejoined Chacon-Morales and Ramirez-Dorantes, and all five fled the area.

To date, three defendants besides Rodríguez-Perez have pleaded guilty: Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment; Emilio Samyn Gonzalez-Arenazas and Jose Ramirez-Dorantes are scheduled to be sentenced in November. Jose Juan Chacon-Morales remains a fugitive.

Rodriguez-Perez pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge M. James Lorenz. Sentencing was set for November 14, 2013, at 2:00 p.m.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) are jointly investigating Agent Rosas’ murder.

Defendant in Criminal Case No. 10CR1793-L-3

Marcos Rodriguez-Perez
Age: 28

Summary of Charges

• Conspiracy—Title18, United States Code, Section 371;
• Robbery of personal property of the United States—Title 18, United States Code, Section 2112;
• Use and carrying of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence—Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c)(1)(A)

Investigating Agencies

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations