To view the episode of FBI Files, featuring this crime, click this link.
By Joel Langton
Del Rio, TEXAS — The man convicted of killing a Customs Service inspector at the Del Rio Port of Entry Jan. 28, 1984 will be released from federal prison Aug. 25.
Raphael Calderon-Velasquez was sentenced to life in prison for killing Richard Latham, a federal law enforcement officer assigned to Del Rio’s Port of Entry, in 1984.
He was part of a gang of four that robbed a jewelry store in Ciudad Acuna Jan. 28 of that year. When Latham was inspecting their vehicle at a secondary checkpoint at the POE, the four abducted him and later killed him near Eagle Pass, Texas, in Maverick County.
One of the four, Jesus Ramirez, died when authorities pulled over the taxi he was in. Authorities said he committed suicide with Latham’s weapon.
Calderon-Velasquez, the other passenger in the car, immediately surrendered. He claimed that Jesus Ramirez was the shooter.
Samuel Olguin-Mato and Ricardo Cortez were caught in the next few days and quickly pointed a finger at Calderon-Velasquez as the shooter. According to FBI spokesman in the television show The FBI files, the evidence and the two versions of events lined up perfectly.
Calderon-Velasquez was never taken to trial, he pled guilty to several charges, aggravated assault and First Degree Murder.
The judge said it was life in prison for the young 27-year-old. Now, he’s 63, and those close to the victim are shaking their head that Calderon-Velasquez will ever see freedom. If the crime had occurred several years later, when the death penalty would have been an option, he’d have been a shoo-in.
Over the past 36 years, Latham’s daughters said they have written letters to a number of parole hearings sharing how great their father was and the impact of the crime on them , just to make sure their daddy’s killer stayed behind bars.
“After the last hearing, we were told by a parole official that his crime was so heinous that he would never see the light of day,” said Beth Latham Brown.
However, when checking the Bureau of Prisons site recently, it informed them that Calderon-Velasquez was due for freedom Aug. 25.
After initially learning of his parole, called supervised release in the federal system, Beth Latham Brown, Latham’s daughter, went through a roller coaster of emotions.
She’s called U.S. senators, representatives, the Maverick County sheriff, the FBI, the Terre Haute, Federal Correctional Institution Indiana prison warden several times, and anyone else she could think of.
However, Sunday evening, the harsh reality of the situation set in. “I worked so hard. I was told so many lies, “ Beth wrote in a Facebook post. “I am just crushed as I know many of our family and friends are…A good man dies and a bad man gets to live what’s left of his life.”
There is hope that a detainer, which means there are more charges Calderon-Velasquez has to face, is out there somewhere. If there is a detainer, the government has shifted from paper to computers since the original case, and no one can find real proof of it, although a computer says it’s in Maverick County.
“We have nothing,” said Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber. However, he said his team is digging in, working hard to see what they can find from 36 years ago.
Even if there is a detainer out there somewhere, in these tight financial times, it’s hard to think that local governments will spend $1 million to send a 63-year-old man back to prison, especially for a crime he committed nearly 40 years ago and that he’s spent 36 years in prison for. However, family and fellow agents feel it’s the least governments can do.
The federal agents who are employed to protect the borders also feel betrayed. “It looks like it’s up to the agents to fight for Richard,” said Sharon Ansick, a Customs and Border Protection supervisor that is close to the family. “We want the message sent that if an officer is killed, we will fight for you and your family.”
The reality is, they have 44 days left to fight to keep a convicted cop killer in prison.
