Emilio Barrios-Cortez, 38, a citizen of Mexico, who most recently resided in Madison, Illinois, was sentenced to prison on June 1, 2013, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Barrios-Cortez, who had previously entered a plea of guilty on Dec. 10, 2012, to Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by an Illegal Alien (Count 1), and Entry Into the United States Without Inspection (Count 2) was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a special assessment of $110. The Court also ordered that the firearm possessed by Barrios-Cortez be forfeited to the United States. The sentencing Court entered a Judicial Order of Removal, which will require Barrios-Cortez to be deported from the United States following the service of his sentence.
Barrios-Cortez was arrested on Aug. 23, 2012, when federal agents went to a residence in Madison to attempt to arrest two individuals who had been charged as a result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. The OCDETF initiative is designed to bring federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and resources together to identify, target and dismantle large national and international drug trafficking organizations. Agencies participating in that investigation included the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI), U.S. Marshal Service, the Granite City Police Department, Fairview Heights Police Department, the Collinsville Police Department, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County (Missouri) Police Department, the St. Charles County (Missouri) Sheriff’s Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol. Although those two individuals were not located at that time, agents did locate a sawed-off shotgun, which further investigation revealed had been possessed by Barrios-Cortez. In addition, according to the Stipulation of Facts filed with the Court at the time of the plea, Barrios-Cortez admitted to agents that he was an illegal alien who entered the country in October 2002 near Douglas, Arizona.
This case was assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Randy G. Massey.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
