Employer of suspect in officer's death arrested Employer of murder suspect arrested

Prosecutors say illegal immigrant charged in killing of officer got help to re-enter U.S.

Robert Camp leaves the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse Wednesday in Houston. The federal complaint alleges that Camp, through his company Camp Landscaping, hired Juan Quintero knowing that he had been deported previously for a crime and was back in the country illegally. less Robert Camp leaves the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse Wednesday in Houston. The federal complaint alleges that Camp, through his company Camp Landscaping, hired Juan Quintero knowing that he had been deported ... more Photo: Melissa Phillip, Chronicle Photo: Melissa Phillip, Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Employer of suspect in officer's death arrested 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The owner of a landscaping firm was arrested Wednesday and faces up to 10 years in federal prison, accused of harboring one of his workers, an illegal immigrant from Mexico charged with the capital murder of a Houston police officer.

Court documents show that Robert Lane Camp, 47, went to considerable lengths to help Juan Leonardo Quintero and keep him on the job at his Deer Park landscaping company before the September 2006 killing of officer Rodney Johnson.

In August 1998, Camp posted a $10,000 bond for Quintero after he was jailed on an indecency with a child charge and hired an attorney to defend him. After the worker was deported in May 1999, Camp sent him money in Mexico and later bought him a plane ticket from Phoenix to Houston after Quintero re-entered through Arizona illegally, according to an affidavit by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Camp then purchased a house in Houston and rented it to Quintero.

Camp walked out of the federal courthouse on Wednesday afternoon after U.S. Magistrate Stephen Smith approved a $50,000 bond following his first court appearance. His attorney, Jimmy Ardoin, would not comment after the hearing, and calls to Camp's home were not returned. No one answered the door at his Deer Park house Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle in Houston said the prosecution of Camp serves to "demonstrate the consequences a U.S. citizen faces" by harboring, employing or helping an illegal immigrant enter the country.

''The shooting of HPD officer Johnson was a tragic incident that could have been avoided," said DeGabrielle, in a statement released after Camp's arrest.

Camp also is charged with encouraging or inducing Quintero to enter the country illegally, and later harboring the immigrant in the Houston area. Quintero worked for Camp for at least 11 years, according to the affidavit.

Shot four times in head

On Sept. 21, 2006, officer Johnson stopped a truck owned by Camp's company for a traffic violation and arrested Quintero after the landscape worker could not provide a driver's license. As the officer wrote up his report in the front seat of his police car, authorities say, Quintero pulled a pistol overlooked in a body search and shot Johnson four times in the head.

The charges against Camp are the result of a lengthy investigation by the Houston Police Department and ICE agents.

Robert Rutt, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Houston, echoed DeGabrielle's comments.

''Officer Johnson's terrible murder illustrates that hiring and harboring illegal aliens is not a victimless crime," Rutt said. "Many illegal aliens, especially aliens with criminal convictions, are desperate to avoid being detected and apprehended. These people also tend to take desperate actions, and the results are often tragic."

On the sixth floor of a Harris County Jail facility, Quintero seemed pensive Wednesday when told for the first time his friend and alleged employer was charged in federal court.

"Excuse me if I can't discuss details of the case. I just can't," Quintero said.

At the advice of his lawyer, Quintero said he couldn't talk.

"My situation is difficult, the options are life (in prison) or death," he said of what a guilty verdict would bring.

Quintero has largely been cut off from the outside world and the general jail population, spending his days locked in his own cell, a standard procedure for prisoners facing capital murder charges.

Jury selection in Quintero's trial is scheduled for March 31.

Police union hails arrest

Meanwhile, Camp's arrest was supported by members of the Houston Police Officer's Union, where Johnson served as a board member.

''We had concerns about the suspect being here, how he had got back into the country," said Mark Clark, the union's executive director. ''These concerns were taken up by HPD and other agencies following Rodney's murder, and we're fully supportive of this person who employed the subject being charged."

Clark said Camp should be held accountable in the officer's death. "It appears now that bill has come due in the criminal justice system," he said.

Camp's prosecution also was lauded by Texans for Immigration Reform, a Houston group which favors tightened immigration enforcement.

james.pinkerton@chron.com

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