Illegal Alien Released By Border Patrol Charged In Ohio Crime Spree

An illegal immigrant charged with attempted murder in Ohio was set free earlier this month after the U.S. Border Patrol declined to take him into custody.

Authorities indicate that more felony charges against the man may be forthcoming.

On July 7, Lake County sheriff’s deputies pulled over the suspect, who allegedly admitted to officers that he was in the U.S. illegally, but upon being notified, federal immigration agents wouldn’t pick him up.

“The Lake County Sheriff’s deputies could not hold [the suspect] because he was not charged with any crime,” NewsNet5, the ABC News Cleveland affiliate, reported.

The man is now being held in connection with the ongoing investigation into the murder of a local woman and other crimes after being apprehended in a manhunt conducted by Lake County SWAT officers and other neighboring law enforcement agencies.

An irate judge (see footage of the initial court hearing embedded below) set bond at $10 million, and the suspect who entered a plea of not guilty is due back in court on August 3.

Multiple news outlets identify the suspect as Juan Emmanuel Razo, 35. As it emerged in the court arraignment, he apparently has no driver’s license, passport, green card, or other documentation that would definitely establish his identity, however.

NBC News affiliate WKYC detailed the alleged Monday crime spree.

“Razo was charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a woman who was walking on the Greenway Corridor bike path with two children. She was shot in the left arm and was treated at TriPoint Medical Center. Prosecutors and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said at the arraignment that they are expecting to further charge Razo with the attempted rape in Concord of a 14-year-old girl, the murder of Margaret ‘Peggy’ Kostelnik in her home… and with shooting at law enforcement officers when they tried to apprehend him Monday afternoon.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement now says it intends to deport the suspect, who is allegedly from Mexico and has been in the U.S. for five years, after the Ohio legal proceedings conclude.

With prosecutorial discretion and other policy changes, the Obama administration claims it is concentrating on deporting only illegal alien felons.

Separately, Congressman Peter King, who chairs the Homeland Security Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives, along with his colleagues, has raised questions about the Obama administration’s vetting process for admitting Syrian asylum seekers into America.

“Lawmakers are worried that not only is Syria the headquarters of the Islamic State, but that the country’s state of chaos makes screening refugees that much harder,” Fox News reported.

[image via YouTube]