ICE captures one of Jamaica's “most wanted”, a murder
MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents in Miami arrested Monday a 33-year-old Jamaican national wanted by the Jamaican government as one of their 10 "most wanted" fugitives for a 2008 homicide. He, along with another Jamaican national arrested at the same time, faces federal criminal charges for having illegally re-entered the United States after having been deported.
(Media-Newswire.com) - MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) special agents in Miami arrested Monday a 33-year-old Jamaican national wanted by the Jamaican government as one of their 10 "most wanted" fugitives for a 2008 homicide. He, along with another Jamaican national arrested at the same time, faces federal criminal charges for having illegally re-entered the United States after having been deported.
On June 8, following an ICE investigation, ICE special agents in Miami, working with the Lauderhill Police Department, located and arrested Omar Oneal Lewis, who was wanted for murder and was considered the 6th most wanted man in Jamaica. ICE agents also arrested Michael Montaque, 25. Both men were residing in the South Florida area.
In addition to the outstanding murder warrant in Jamaica, Lewis is a fugitive from the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Florida stemming from a Feb. 7, 2009, arrest, under the name Kendell Joseph Smith, in which he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon. Lewis is thought to have used as many as six aliases while in the United States.
"I'm proud of the hard work and diligence of our special agents for tracking down and apprehending these career criminals," said Anthony Mangione, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Miami. "Apprehending dangerous foreign fugitives hiding in the United States is a top priority of ICE and now, not only has this illegal alien with an extensive criminal history been removed from the streets of South Florida, but he will eventually be removed from the United States to face justice in Jamaica." Omar Oneal Lewis is wanted by the Jamaican government for the June 26, 2008, stabbing death of a 23-year-old man at a nightclub in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Lewis and Montaque face federal criminal charges of illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported. Lewis faces up to two years in prison, if convicted, and Montaque faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted. The ICE investigation confirmed that Lewis was previously removed from the United States on two occasions - in June 2001 and February 2006. Montaque, a convicted felon, was removed in January 2006.
Lewis has an extensive criminal history in Florida, including five violent felony arrests. The former Immigration and Naturalization Service first arrested Lewis in March 2001 in Tampa for being in violation of immigration law and placed him into removal proceedings. An immigration judge ordered Lewis removed the following month. In July 2005, Lewis, for a second time, illegally re-entered the United States and was once again removed.
In June 2005, Montaque was encountered through ICE's Criminal Alien Program while in the custody of the Broward County jail for a grand theft conviction and found to be subject to removal from the United States. An immigration judge ordered him removed in September 2005.
The case was investigated by ICE's Office of Investigations in Miami with the assistance of the Lauderhill Police Department. The federal case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Lorraine Tashman.
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