Mexican Kidnapper Caught Working In Texas Restaurant

By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze  

When Americans visit their local restaurant, they often see and hear Mexicans working in the kitchen or busing the tables. Most people have been conditioned to ignore the fact that foreign nationals are working around their homes or preparing our food.

Most people in the country illegally are just "looking for a better life," Americans are told. Unfortunately, some are also evading the law for crimes committed in the US or their own country.

Texans may not be surprised that a 22 year old from Ciudad Juarez was living in Socorro, Texas, or that he was working as a cook in a fast food restaurant. What they may be surprised about is that Vega-Muņoz was part of a Mexican kidnapping ring that specializes in kidnapping business people in Juarez.

Vega-Muņoz faces up to 20 years in federal prison, not for kidnapping, but for re-entering the US after being deported once.

As NewsBlaze contributor, Michael Cutler says, Vega-Muņoz was hiding in plain sight. At this time, it is unknown whether Vega-Muņoz was involved in any other criminal activity in the USA.

Here is the news release issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

January 9, 2012 El Paso, TX
ICE HSI agents arrest fugitive, member of Juarez kidnapping ring
Cesar 'El Chilin' Vega-Muņoz was working at local restaurant

EL PASO, Texas - A cook at an area fast-food restaurant remains in federal custody after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arrested him Dec. 27 for illegally re-entering the country after being deported.

Cesar "El Chilin" Vega-Muņoz, 22, had a preliminary and detention hearing Jan. 6 in which U.S. Magistrate Judge David Guaderrama denied him bond, ordering him to remain in custody pending further judicial proceedings.

Vega-Muņoz, who was living illegally in Socorro, Texas, is charged with re-entry after deportation. He was previously deported to Mexico in April 2009 after he tried to enter at the Ysleta Port of Entry using someone else's entry documents.

He is wanted in Ciudad Juarez for escape and other charges. He was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to 42 years in prison.

According to an investigation by ICE HSI's Public Safety Group in El Paso, Mexican authorities in Ciudad Juarez arrested Vega-Muņoz in September 2009. He allegedly belongs to the kidnapping ring "El Neto," a criminal organization targeting business people in the Juarez area.

In December 2010, the van in which Vega-Muņoz was being transported from Cereso prison to a court appearance was ambushed, and Vega-Muņoz escaped during the ensuing gunfight.

ICE HSI agents developed information that led them to identify, locate and arrest Vega-Muņoz outside a fast-food restaurant on Dec. 27, in the 10000 block of Alameda Avenue in Socorro, Texas, where he worked as a cook.

"HSI special agents aggressively pursue individuals who pose a threat to public safety, especially criminal aliens who try to blend into our communities to elude justice in their home countries," said Dennis A. Ulrich, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in El Paso.

If convicted of the re-entry charge, Vega-Muņoz faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Once he completes any awarded prison sentence, he will be returned to ICE custody and removed to Mexico.

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