A suspect in the 2010 fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near Nogales will be arraigned Wednesday, Aug. 1, in Tucson.
Heraclio Osorio Arellanes was extradited from Mexico to the United States on Tuesday and will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Tucson, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a news release Tuesday.
Mexican authorities arrested Osorio Arellanes in April 2017 and he was awaiting extradition to the United States on a first-degree murder charge.
At the time of the arrest, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called Osorio Arellanes “the suspected killer” of Terry.
Terry was fatally shot in December 2010 after he and other Border Patrol agents came across five members of a “rip crew,” a gang of bandits who rob smugglers, north of Nogales.
Seven men were indicted on charges including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault of a federal officer.
Three suspects pleaded guilty and two suspects were convicted by a jury in Tucson and sentenced to life in prison. Another suspect, Jesus Rosario Favela Astorga, was arrested by Mexican authorities in October 2017. His extradition to the United States is pending.
Sessions said in the news release he was pleased Osorio Arellanes was successfully extradited and “will now face justice for this terrible crime.”
Sessions thanked the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and law enforcement in Mexico.
“To anyone who would take the life of an American citizen, in particular an American law enforcement officer, this action sends a clear message: Working closely with our international partners, we will hunt you down, we will find you, and we will bring you to justice,” Sessions said in the news release.
Federal prosecutors from Southern California will handle the prosecution of Osorio Arellanes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, which was engulfed by the Operation Fast and Furious scandal after two guns federal agents allowed to be bought on behalf of drug traffickers were found at the scene of the shooting, is recused from the prosecution.
“When an agent makes the ultimate sacrifice while serving his country, we must hold all the individuals who played a part in this tragic outcome accountable for their actions. This extradition moves that important goal forward,” Adam Braverman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, said in the news release.
The recruiter of the rip crew, Rosario Burboa Alvarez, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced in 2015 to 27 years in prison. Lionel Portillo Meza and Ivan Soto Barraza were convicted by a jury of all charges, including first-degree murder.
Manuel Osorio Arellanes was sentenced in 2014 to 30 years in prison on a first-degree murder charge. His brother, Rito Osorio Arellanes, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. He was not at the scene of the shooting and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013.
