Kidnapping suspect has ICE record
Man snared by SWAT has been deported to Mexico three times.
A man suspected of killing two men in the Dallas area and kidnapping a man in Georgetown during a two-day crime spree had been deported from the United States three times, officials said Wednesday.
Guillermo Franco, also known as Silvestre Franco-Luviano, 40, was arrested by SWAT officers Tuesday night after officials said he ran down a flight of stairs at an apartment complex near George- town High School.
A statement released Wednesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Franco had been deported to Mexico in 1996, 2009 and 2014.
Georgetown police said Franco was sought in the shooting deaths late Sunday of Ruben Moreno in his car in Southeast Dallas and of Welton Betts at a gas station in the
Franco’s criminal history in Williamson County includes arrests beginning in 2010 for burglary of a vehicle and possession of a controlled substance.
Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill.
Police were notified that he was in Georgetown on Monday after officials say he robbed and kidnapped a man doing landscaping work on Rivery Boulevard. The victim was later found unharmed.
The vehicle from the Cedar Hill case was recovered Monday in Georgetown, officials said.
Police said they learned Tuesday that Franco was in his sister’s apartment at the Parkview Place Apartments at 2111 N. Austin Ave.
After authorities had evac- uated the apartments and surrounded the one that Franco was in, he set the apartment on fire, broke through a wall into an adjacent apartment and then re-entered his sister’s apartment and fled through the front door, Georgetown Assistant Police Chief Cory Tchida said.
After SWAT team members tackled Franco at the bot- tom of the stairs, they found a gun nearby that apparently fell out of his pocket, Tchida said.
He said ammunition also was found in one of Fran- co’s pockets.
Franco’s criminal history in Williamson County includes arrests beginning in 2010 for burglary of a vehicle and possession of a con- trolled substance.
A warrant had been issued in January for him for pos- session of a controlled substance, but authorities hadn’t been able to find him, Tchida said.
A federal immigration judge in Dallas ordered Franco deported to Mexico on June 14, 1996, after criminal convictions, the ICE statement said. It didn’t include information about the convictions.
According to the state- ment, he attempted to re-enter the country through Hidalgo by falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen on Oct. 1, 2009, and was immediately
deported to Mexico. ICE found Franco in a jail in Austin on Oct. 13, 2011, and he was prosecuted for re-entry after deportation and sentenced to eight months in prison, according to ICE.
After he served his prison sentence, Franco was deported to Mexico through Laredo on March 10, 2014, the statement said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Wednesday that Franco being able to re-enter the country three times after deportations was an example of the consequences of failing to secure the border.
“This is an indictment against the federal government’s failure to police the border and another reason that Texas must continue to focus on border security,” Patrick said.