The recruiter for the βrip crewβ accused of killing Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder.
As part of the plea agreement, Rosario Burboa-Alvarez will not face the death penalty. The crime carries a maximum of life in prison, but the recommended sentence in the plea agreement is 30 years in prison with credit for time served since he was arrested on Oct. 2, 2012, court documents show.
He will be sentenced on Oct. 19 in federal court in Tucson.
Burboa-Alvarez, originally from Sinaloa, was in charge of recruiting people to cross into the United States by foot, grab caches of food supplies and firearms hidden on this side of the border, and rob marijuana smugglers. He would then pay them upon their return to Mexico.
He pleaded guilty to assembling the armed crew that ran into Border Patrol agents near Rio Rico the night of Dec. 14, 2010, and fatally shot Terry when they exchanged gunfire.
The government argued that even though Burboa-Alvarez was in Mexico when Terry was killed, he was a co-conspirator in the robbery. And because they were armed in order to steal drugs from the smugglers, it was foreseeable that at some point they could encounter law enforcement officers, prompting a shootout like the one that killed Terry.
βMr. Burboa-Alvarez is extremely remorseful for his role in the conspiracy and accepts responsibility for his actions,β his court-appointed attorney Benjamin Aguilera said Tuesday. He βhas obviously undergone much reflection and feels nothing but anguish and sorrow for what transpired in December 2010. Without question, the tragedy of Agent Terryβs death is something everyone wishes could be undone.β
Burboa-Alvarez, 31, was the seventh man charged in the slaying at the center of a scandal over a botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious. He was already in custody for immigration-related crimes and will be deported after he completes his prison sentence.
The case sparked national controversy when it became known that two guns found at the scene were sold by a Phoenix-area dealer to a suspect involved in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation, in which the federal agency lost track of about 2,000 guns.
Last year, Lionel Portillo-Meza and Ivan Soto-Barraza, were extradited from Mexico and await trial, scheduled for September. They have pleaded not guilty.
Manuel Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced to 30 years in prison in February 2014 for first-degree murder in the case. His brother, Rito Osorio-Arellanes, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013. Rito Osorio-Arellanes was not at the scene when Terry was killed.
Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga and Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes remain at large.
The U.S. government is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to each of their arrests.
