By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Four suspected members of a Venezuelan gang who Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said were
arrested in Val Verde County were actually arrested in Maverick County and never
roamed freely in the local area, County Attorney David Martinez said.
Abbott on Jan. 3 announced the arrests of “four confirmed members of Tren de Aragua as
they attempted to illegally cross the border into Texas on New Year’s Eve.”
Abbott in September 2024 signed a proclamation designating Tren de Aragua as a
“foreign terrorist organization” and announced that Texas would launch “a
comprehensive statewide operation that will aggressively target the dangerous
Venezuelan gang.”
In his September proclamation, Abbott wrote that the gang originated in a Venezuelan
prison in Aragua state (Tren de Aragua translates to “train of Aragua”) and moved into
neighboring countries before “eventually expanding operations into the United States.”
Abbott wrote the gang has been implicated in the murder of a nursing student in Georgia,
the shooting of police officers trying to stop a robbery in New York, the sexual assault of
a mother and her minor daughter in Wisconsin and the conversion of hotels and
apartment buildings to headquarters for criminal activity.
In his release on the Dec. 31, 2024, arrests, Abbott noted, “DPS troopers working on Operation Lone Star in Val Verde County encountered a group of 22 illegal immigrants
from Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Eleven were arrested for criminal trespass,
with the family groups being referred to Border Patrol for processing.”
Of the 22 immigrants detained by the DPS was a group of nine Venezuelan nationals who
said they were bound for San Antonio, Irving and Corsicana.
Abbott wrote DPS special agents interviewed the Venezuelans.
“Based on their interviews as well as their tattoos, special agents suspected four of the
males may have been TdA (Tren de Aragua) members and upon receiving consent to
search their cell phones were able to verify their gang affiliation through social media
apps,” Abbott’s release noted.
The suspected gang members were identified as Segundo Ocando-Mejia, 39; Pedro Luis
Salazar-Cuervo, 27; Antonio Joe Urrutia-Rojas, 18; and Levi Jesus Urrutia-Blanco, 18.
Abbott’s release also noted, “Ocando-Mejia had tattoos on his shoulders indicating he
may hold rank or leadership within the gang.”
The four men were among 11 members of the original group of immigrants charged with
criminal trespass.
Criminal trespass cases through Operation Lone Star typically land on the desk of the
county attorney for each county, since the criminal offense is a misdemeanor.
The 830 Times spoke to County Attorney David Martinez earlier this week to ask him
about the four cases singled out by the governor.
After some research, Martinez on Friday said he had located the four men in the system,
but told The 830 Times they had not been arrested in Val Verde County.
“As we talked about several days ago, when I got the names, I looked through the records
from the (Operation Lone Star) processing center (at the jail). The processing center puts
out a daily roster that’s comprehensive and all-inclusive and it tells us the individual’s
name, the day they were apprehended, the arresting agency and the arresting officer, who
the magistrate judge was, what the bond was and if there is a conclusion to the case, that
is included as well,” Martinez said.
“Once I received the names of the individuals – because like you and some of your
readers – I, too, had heard of the governor’s press (release) wherein he talked about four
Venezuelans who had crossed into Val Verde County illegally and had been apprehended
by DPS,” he added.
Martinez said he located the four individuals in question on the Operation Lone Star
roster.
“They were indeed apprehended on Dec. 31, but they were apprehended in Maverick
County. They were processed in Val Verde County, and interestingly enough, on
Thursday, Jan. 15, it says, ‘Completed sentence, released to ICE (Immigration and
Customs Enforcement),” for all four of them, so my assumption is that once they did
whatever time they had, which wasn’t more than a couple of weeks, they were turned
over to ICE, and ICE, most likely, deported them. That’s my assumption,” Martinez said.
The county attorney added, “But those individuals were never in Val Verde County
freely. They were in Val Verde County, but under guard when they were processed in
and out.”
Martinez also said there is no independent verification, other than the information
disseminated by the governor’s office, that the four men were actually members of Tren
de Aragua.
“And quite honestly, they were apprehended in a jurisdiction other than mine, so there’s
no reason for me to waste my time trying to figure out what’s happening in a neighboring
county. I’m sure the authorities there handled the case as best as they could,” Martinez
said.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
