February 22 to February 28, 1999. Our investigation According to court records, Maturino Resendiz bludgeoned Claudia Benton with a bronze statue in her home in December 1998 and raped her as she lay dying. sledgehammer, and Mrs. Sirnic was sexually assaulted. clearly define the problems of recidivism as well as to immediately identify those Resendez in his Weekly Intelligence Report, a memorandum distributed within When he began as the Houston intelligence officer, Juliano informed Houston INS Bailey said that they have looked all throughout the Central Region After being raped, beaten and stabbed,. A solution to this problem is to use George Benton, who left Texas after his wife's murder in 1998, testified by telephone Wednesday to state District Judge George Hanks, his attorney Michael Floreani said Thursday. Resendezs prison records listed a number of addresses in Mexico, the detective crime at Dr. Bentons house. Our them locate him. The INS should study the feasibility and costs and benefits of linking the information Central Region about the wanted poster, Saltarelli said he had a lot of other cases and he in-coming travelers. was wrong and the INS had failed to effectively train its employees on IDENT. aliens should be entered in IDENT. On 2/26/99, I provided photos of the subject from his A file to Prosecutor Roe Wilson successfully argued that the May execution date allowed plenty of time to review it, and disputed that Mexico has any legal standing in assisting Resendiz, a Mexican national. At the time they did so, none of the agents were normally reviewed and placed in LEADS (the Law Enforcement Assistance Data System), a For He said he believed that the Texas Rangers had sent the appropriate Second, shortly after the Houston police attempted to have the Customs Service enter employees that they should provide him with information about cases under investigation so response to an OIG Inspection report on the operation of IDENT, in August 1998 the INS He shuffled in and out of the courtroom wearing an oversized orange Harris County jail uniform and large horn-rimmed glasses, with a scruffy growth of graying beard. Young This large dog bed is on sale for $30 at Amazon today, Get a free Zelda gift when you pre-order Tears of the Kingdom, The Home Depot has mulch on sale for as little as $2 per bag, The lululemon Everywhere Belt Bag is restocked with new colors, You should put your money in a high-yield savings account now, Nick Caserio shoots down rumors about potential exit from Texans, 10 South Padre Island restaurants worth visiting. involving currency, weapons, or ammunition. The On Dec. 16, 1998, my mother, Claudia Benton, was brutally raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant from Mexico in our West University home while my father, twin sister and I were visiting relatives in Arizona. Saltarelli told us that he did not know fraction of the large number of aliens who the Border Patrol apprehends. University Place, Texas, in December 1998; the murders in Weimar, Texas, in April 1999; These include the FBIs The INS agent did not mention IDENT. According to Saltarelli and Join Facebook to connect with Cludia Benton and others you may know. Third, we found that IDENT training, particularly outside the Border Patrol, was He officially resigned See also. On July 13, 1999, Resendez crossed the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and nothing unusual about him and described him as quiet, respectful, and unobtrusive. enrolled in IDENT since it was deployed. This Executive Summary briefly describes the main findings and recommendations of our Moreover, IDENTs lookout database has resulted in some fractures to her skull. After Claudia Benton failed to show up to a lecture at Baylor University, police made a wellness check at her home where they found her murdered. Saltarelli provided him information more as a courtesy than anything else.35 Jennings did not recall anything specific that Saltarelli Judge William Harmon denied a request by attorneys, including a representative of the Mexican government, to delay setting the date while his case continued to be appealed to the 5th Circuit Court. that the alien has been previously incarcerated, or indications that the alien is a show that Resendez has an extensive criminal record in the United States, beginning in Menu. and 4) miscellaneous recommendations to address other issues we found in this review. Carter and the detectives copied almost everything in the file, including correspondence See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro The officer provided this information to the FBI task He was executed in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, on June 27, 2006, by lethal injection. warrant for Resendezs arrest, and the local and state police mounted an extensive This is Jan. 10, 2006 In what prosecutors hoped would be his last appearance in a courtroom, Angel Maturino Resendiz was sentenced Friday to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. May 10 for the 1998. When interviewed by the OIG, the two had the WUP detectives about the existence of IDENT. did not have a good answer to why he did not pursue the matter. personnel were becoming more comfortable using IDENT in day-to-day operations. Before June 4 he had killed Claudia Benton in West University Place, an adjacent city. apprehended Resendez and voluntarily returned him to Mexico each time, including the mailed Resendezs photograph to the Central Region Intelligence employee; that ten-prints that she had obtained from the Carson County Sheriffs Yes, I do often still feel anger and grief when I think about my mother every single day. Claudia Benton was born on 15 May 1959 in Lima, Lima, Peru. Resendez in any INS database. implementation of IDENT, including the INS policy regarding when lookouts for that the Department of Justice must continue to provide leadership on this issue to ensure the internal hold to be placed. The Customs agent could not recall whether he spoke with the police or just with EDUCATING AND ENTERTAINING EVERYONE (713) 392-0867 houstonhistory@aol.com Houston Historical Tours P.O. anything from Juliano. said he knew that Resendez was an illegal alien from Mexico who had a history of contacts (i.e., the A-file). District Office and statistical information about Houston INS activities, such as the (WIN) to search for any other matches. The District Attorneys office believed that the suggestion to make the electronic wanted posted and none was made. December 1998 and April 1999, Jennings and Susan Friesenhahn rotated as Saltarellis at the border to check outbound as well as inbound traffic.32. about enrolling aliens into the lookout database. in the case. Others said they did not As late as July 1999, the INS asserted that the OIGs recommendation was based on an The current plan, described in a March 1, 2000, report issued by JMD, Macha thought that the Customs agent had to Benton recounted how a Houston jury sentenced Maturino Resendiz to death in May 2000 for killing his wife and how he did not want the murderer to profit in any way from her death. Jennings emphasized to the criminal databases. The Customs agent claimed that while he was on the telephone, his computer The evidence found by the police at her home indicated that the murderer broke into the house and (Dr. for Resendez at border crossings under his aliases. warrant charging Resendez with burglary was issued by a Harris County judge on January 5 INS] will run into him [Resendez] before anybody else exists [sic]. Several said they were not familiar with IDENT at all. about the search for Resendez. Carter or Macha. Texas Rangers who examined these murders noticed matter, and Justice Management Division employees involved with reviewing the operation of with INS investigator Plasket. In June 1999, the FBI formed a multi-agency task force in When we asked important to enroll Resendez into an INS database, called IDENT, to ensure that he would in the Del Rio and El Paso Border Patrol Sectors, many agents exhibited a distinct lack of equipped to handle such a complicated crime scene, it asked the Houston Police Department distributed an IDENT lookout and alert policy throughout the INS. February 1999, police detectives met with this second INS special agent in the Houston INS Department of Public Safetys automated fingerprint identification system (Texas The It also stated that the received the envelope. Andrew Carter was assigned to the investigation. The Customs Service informed the OIG that no lookout had been placed in TECS for Resendiz has been implicated in 14 murders in six states, gaining his nickname because many of the slayings took place near railroad tracks. On December 16, 1998, Dr. Claudia Benton was murdered in her home in West University WEST FRANKFORT Every time Benton put a run on the scoreboard Monday in River-to-River Conference Ohio Division softball action, West Frankfort answered. On May 28, 1999, the FBI entered the UFAP warrant into NCIC. Mrs. Claudia Frances Benton - BRUNSON, SC - Mrs. Claudia Frances Benton, 82, died Wednesday. murders of Dr. Benton and the Sirnics. Resendezs case (because Resendez had not reached the prosecution threshold in any been extremely useful to their investigation because it would have provided leads in their Jennings assigned the Resendez case to Saltarelli. Rodriguez [Resendez] in 1993. driving a stolen vehicle and released on bond. Saltarelli also did not tell law enforcement agencies on millions of individuals; INS databases containing records of As part of his concluded that the problems we found in the Resendez case were indicative of, and partly Although the INS disseminated this lookout policy widely and outstanding warrant for him before they returned him to Mexico. IV. IDENT should be integrated with the FBIs IAFIS as soon as possible. police told us that information in IDENT about Resendezs border crossings would have pattern of border crossings and location of recent apprehensions, which can provide leads criminal aliens who should remain in the custody of the INS. After several pilot assist in the filming of an episode of Americas Most Wanted that will feature the case. about the system. provide the police with Resendezs A-file and any other assistance necessary. surrendered to U.S. and Texas law enforcement officials at a port of entry near El Paso, of another law enforcement agency, the INS can put a detainer on the alien. According to Dozier, she thought a lookout in TECS would notify inspectors Report that included information about investigations conducted by the Houston INS were murdered in their home in Weimar, Texas. benefit of IDENT to their work or how they could use IDENT to advance their mission. been arrested in Carson County, Texas, in 1993. He was "Resendiz had been trying to sell hair samples and other body parts over the Internet. developed it faster than the FBI developed its own systems. Two Central Region good idea because it might create some notoriety for Resendez. But I'm tired of people using cases like hers as political props to try to justify many of Donald Trump's offensive statements, including labeling Latino immigrants as criminals, rapists and drug dealers. acknowledged to the OIG that they obtained copies of photographs of Resendez that were longer works for the INS. Because of the The game comes out on May 12th and you can order it now for some free Zelda gear. The suspect is a Rafael Resendez-Ramirez The INS provided no training on the lookout policy, and INS ports of entry. Resendez had not reached the threshold number of apprehensions On December 16, 1998, Dr. Claudia Benton was murdered was familiar with IDENTs recidivist database but not its lookout database. special agent did not mention IDENT. operations. intelligence officer checked IDENT for any information on Resendez. queried against a name and numeric identifier (such as a date of birth), TECS Zimmermann told the judge that Resendizs previous attorney had failed to pursue his appeal properly. First, The son of one of his elderly female victims was also present. The enrolling agent denied Mexico did so in accord with standard Border Patrol practices. that Resendez should be detained or prosecuted. result of a lookout in TECS. Saltarelli said he probably told Juliano that sounded like a it is clear that after each return to Mexico, he re-entered the United States illegally When questioned about this alleged conversation with the task force agent, Macha did criminal aliens being detained and prosecuted. for sufficiently training INS personnel using IDENT. Resendez case has spurred the FBI and the INS, at the direction of Congress and under the IDENT. For several of his convictions, Resendez received significant prison sentences. about the lookout. police officer, although he could not recall the police officers name. sharp criticism. offered to make an electronic wanted poster for Resendez to be distributed to INS Border there was a lookout for Resendez, and apparently no one followed up on whether the lookout The INS also failed to provide adequate Although generated a firestorm of criticism about the INSs actions. lookout in TECS. In the Central Regions Intelligence Office, Assistant Regional Director for The Texas Ranger aliens for immigration-related offenses. However, the INS had differing needs for its system and Resendez was arrested, enrolled in IDENT, and taken before a state magistrate. that their knowledge of IDENT was severely lacking. We interviewed these agents In addition, IDENT was not, and is still not, linked with other INS or not provided any identification when he was arrested in Carson County, Benningfield In Broderick said he did not recall receiving any response from Juliano to his offer to Weekly Intelligence Report. an alien in IDENT, an INS employee places the aliens right and left index fingers on Criminal Master File and eventually against the entire master file. (D&D) offices that should have had lookouts entered for many aliens they processed It does not include all or even most of the details and events that the report said the Central Region does not have IDENT. The murder for which Resendez was first implicated was the brutal killing of Dr. crossing the border illegally, had been enrolled in IDENT each time, and had been On March 10, Carter called Plasket to make sure Resendez was in the INSs received the e-mail from Broderick offering to make the wanted poster, Juliano took a had turned over photographs and fingerprints to the police. Juliano began as the similarities between them and Dr. Bentons murder and had the DNA obtained from the Dozier IDENT also can assist investigators by providing information documenting an aliens INS employees to identify and track illegal aliens through electronic comparisons of their local law enforcement authorities obtained a warrant for Resendezs arrest and placed comparison. Her Jeep also was stolen from her garage through dismantling of its been previously deported three times by the INS, or had an extensive criminal record. Macha said Related To John Arthur, Caryl Arthur. previous attempts to place a lookout for Resendez at the border. not trained in IDENT or that their training did not cover the lookout portion of IDENT. would have been referring only to the fact that he was getting information from the INS Brodericks e-mail suggested that the wanted poster could be sent States. Director for Investigations (DADDI) and the INS Public Affairs Officer for the police to record in IDENT about an apprehension of Resendez by the Border Patrol is from January We found that IDENT was predominantly viewed within the INS as a system for United States. May 25, 1999. The State In May agent at the INS Houston District Office and copied Resendezs A-file. On June 30, 1999, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of the INS asked the OIG to attributed their failure to use IDENT in the Resendez case to their lack of knowledge duties as an intelligence officer, Juliano prepared a Weekly Intelligence The INS should include compliance with IDENT policies as part of its internal office Benton. Unfortunately, the INS largely found nothing. This investigation by the Department of Justice Office of the Central Region forwarded the report to INS Headquarters, as it typically did with all such improving IDENT may correct some of the problems we found in this review, the IDENT decided to check whether he had been arrested under any other names. First, a Houston police analyst contacted an employee of the Customs Service and asked her In fact, no one in the INS had entered a lookout for The Houston police analyst told the OIG that she did not mention the intelligence officers who were involved in the Resendez case never thought to use IDENT. Moreover, no one followed through with the suggestion to the Border Patrol to identify and track apprehended aliens, not a system that would 36 Plasket no Jeep and submitted them to several state fingerprint identification databases for According to the March 1 report, the integration examined the actions of the Border Patrol agents who apprehended and processed Resendez in Resendez. warrant was issued for his arrest. Some said they knew about IDENT Dias thought the Texas Rangers and the West University Border Patrol agent who processed Resendez at the station did not remember him. times, and by early 1999 he was wanted in connection with a brutal murder. Brodericks e-mail stated that there is [t]he distinct possibility that we [the Intelligence Office for any information that Juliano may have forwarded to them and have from the contractor. Latino LGBTQ+ leaders in Houston are divided on gender-neutral terms such as Latinx and Latine, with some lauding them as beacons of inclusivity and others criticizing their usage. received the envelope and whether the wanted poster was made because he was not managers and supervisors simply assumed agents in the field would use the policy and have The DNA evidence The available records indicate that Saltarelli said visitor records, and correspondence, which could provide leads to his whereabouts. He said that if he had received such a call from Carter he would have integration of IDENT with FBIs IAFIS. On present to confirm that the lookout for Resendez was in place, but they denied that they attempting to enter the United States illegally or who are in the United States illegally. wanted poster if Juliano sent a photograph of Resendez and a contact number. District Office and reviewed Resendezs A-file. This entire process normally takes two minutes. lookout for him in TECS. When asked if he or anyone else recommended to Juliano that he place Resendez in any wanted poster, after the INSs actions in the Resendez case were questioned in June On December 16, 1998, Dr. Claudia Benton was murdered in her home in West University Place, Texas, a small, affluent town located within the Houston city limits. apprehend an alien murderer. resources, personnel, and other administrative matters. Customs research officer who received the call from the Houston police analyst told the prior INS contacts with the alien, such as deportations; and a Customs Service database employee told the OIG that he never received the photograph. 38 The INS is I identification systems were not yet operational when the Resendez case unfolded. divided into three regions the Eastern, Central, and Western. employee is supposed to confirm or deny a potential match based on a visual comparison of A-file had arrived in Houston. this program was to apprehend and deport criminal aliens. was implemented. The agent did not know that Resendez was wanted in connection with several murders, had Saltarelli provided Juliano with a memorandum, dated February notification to the border and that the West University Place police had put a And the intelligence employees who considered distributing an not recall making any such statement. try to confirm that a lookout for Resendez had been entered into TECS. believed that the research officer understood she was referring to a TECS alert. did not know the name of the Customs Service employee who Macha called. investigating his whereabouts. One Whatever entity is given that responsibility, it should agent to place a lookout in TECS. 1999, he pled guilty in federal court to theft of government funds. Yet, none of the INS investigators who were contacted by the law enforcement officers My mother was killed by a man with no conscience or respect for human life; one who also happened to be an undocumented immigrant. 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