Border patrol nabs illegal alien with criminal past

LAKE TOWNSHIP - A Mexican national who has been deported from the United States four separate times and who served prison time for transporting marijuana and illegally re-entering the country was arrested following a traffic stop by the Ohio Highway Patrol.

The U.S. Border Patrol said Marcos Mendez-Rabelez admitted to its agents that he did not have proper documentation to remain in the country and was arrested around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in Lake Township, just west of Ottawa County.

He was processed at the border patrol station in Port Clinton, where his previous convictions and deportations were discovered, according to the border patrol.

Mendez-Rabelez, 32, had been convicted of eight counts of illegal re-entry after being removed in 2015 and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

In 2010, the suspect was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of transporting marijuana.

During questioning, Mendez-Rabelez claimed to be in the "Border Brothers" gang, the border patrol said.

"This arrest is an example of the benefit of our working relationship with our law enforcement agencies in the area," Chief Border Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison of the Detroit Sector said in a news release.

Harrison said partnership with law enforcement along the border is imperative to removing criminal aliens from the communities.

Anyone with information on suspicious activity is asked to call the Detroit Sector Border Patrol BorderWatch at 800-537-3220.

cshoup@gannett.com

419-334-1035

Twitter: @CraigShoupNH