The U.S. southern border disaster and a Wake Deputy's murder
Illegal immigration on the U.S. Southern border has exploded under President Biden with ramifications in every state, including North Carolina
Illegal immigration on the U.S. Southern border has exploded under President Biden with ramifications in every state, including North Carolina.
Last August, CBS News reported that “In fiscal year 2021, which included Mr. Biden's first eight full months in office, Border Patrol recorded 1.66 million arrests along the southern border, surpassing the previous all-time high of 1.64 million arrests set in 2000, CBP data show.”
“During the first 10 months of fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border reported more than 1.8 million apprehensions, a new record high that will likely surpass 2 million when fiscal year 2023 starts in October, according to the CBP figures,” CBS News’s report stated.
One only has to follow FOX News’ Bill Melugin to see the near-daily reports of illegal crossing, catch-and-release figures, and arrests of terror watch list suspects at the U.S.-Mexico border.
On May 12, Melugin reported that “A record-setting 83,000 migrants crossed our border illegally this week — equivalent to a full capacity Dallas Cowboys football stadium.”
And the tens of thousands of daily crossings continued, despite Title 42.
The repercussions on the states are real, as one case of the murder of a Wake County Sheriff’s deputy by illegal aliens in North Carolina shows.
More To The Story
Around 11 p.m. on the evening of Aug. 12, 2022, Wake County Sheriff's Deputy Ned Byrd and his K-9 partner responded to a call in the vicinity of Auburn Knightdale Road near Battle Bridge Road; a slightly rural area in the southeast part of the county.
Deputies found Byrd's body outside his patrol car at around 1 a.m. after he failed to respond to his radio. He had been shot multiple times and it would later be established he had been killed not long after arriving in the area.
Byrd's K-9 partner was unharmed and was found inside the patrol vehicle.
At the time of his death, Byrd was 48 years old and had been in law enforcement for 13 years.
Byrd joined the Sheriff's Office as a Detention Officer in July 2009 and entered basic law enforcement training school in Sept. 2017. He was sworn in as a deputy in Mar. 2018.
At a press conference, then-Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker was asked if Byrd had been caught off guard and Baker said that he believed that to be the case "based on what I've seen so far, that the answer to that is yes."
Deputy Byrd was laid to rest on Aug. 19, 2022. His casket was placed on a Caisson led by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol’s Caisson Unit. Members of the Sheriff’s Office’s K9 Unit served as pallbearers.
Finding the suspects
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) circulated a flier asking for assistance in locating a white pick-up truck seen in the area of the shooting. The truck would later be found in the Winston-Salem area but had been spray-painted red.
In a press release on Aug. 16, 2022, the WCSO addressed media inquiries about Byrd's death following news of possible related arrests in Burke County that same day.
“These individuals have been arrested on federal detainers unrelated to the Byrd homicide. There was no chase as has been previously reported,” said Wake County Chief Legal Advisor Rick Brown. “The investigation is at a sensitive point. Rumors and false information by the media to get the story out first, hampers this investigation. We continue to ask for the public’s assistance in identifying the person or persons responsible for this homicide.”
“Similarly, there has been false information disseminated regarding the theft of property from Deputy Byrd’s residence,” Brown said. “Certain property was temporarily removed from the residence because of a civil dispute. And has since been recovered. This office is taking appropriate action as a result.”
The North Carolina Sheriff's Association had offered a $100,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing Byrd.
Two brothers arrested; a third arrested
Two brothers, Arturo Marin-Sotelo and Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo, were taken into custody for questioning in the death of Byrd on Aug. 16 in Burke County.
According to a report by WSOC-TV, the men had been pulled over on I-40 by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and federal marshals had taken the men into custody.
Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo, age 26, was charged with Byrd's murder.
It was confirmed that he was in the country illegally, was also unlawfully in possession of a firearm, and was being held on an ICE detainer.
Arturo Marin-Sotelo, now age 28, was also indicted on a charge of felony murder and was also in the country illegally.
The third brother, Rolando Marin-Sotelo, then age 18, was detained on Aug. 17 by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office but at that time was not charged in the murder of Byrd.
The arrest of the brothers would not be the final chapter in the case. Alder Marin-Sotelo would escape from jail with the help of one of his sisters.
The Escape
The Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Department first heard of Marin-Sotelo’s escape around 4 a.m. on May 1 but gave no public statement until later in the morning.
Marin-Sotelo had escaped from the Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville, Virginia, where he was awaiting trial. He had scaled two fences and had taken off in an early 2000 red or burgundy Ford Mustang with a 30-day temporary tag.
It would later be confirmed by multiple media outlets that over 24 hours passed before guards noticed Sotelo had escaped.
The U.S. Marshals and FBI take over the search for Sotelo, as well as another inmate, 44-year-old Bruce Callahan, who escaped in the same manner and on the same day as Sotelo.
Per a May 1 press release, the FBI, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, and numerous local, state, and federal agencies are searching for a jail escapee charged with murdering a Wake County Deputy in August 2022.
Two days later, the Charlotte FBI office would issue a reward offer of $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of Marin-Sotelo.
The reward would later be raised to $70,000 thanks to funds added by the U.S. Marshal's Service.
In between the reward bulletins, a sister of Marin-Sotelo was arrested.
On May 2 in High Point North Carolina, law enforcement arrested Adriana Marin Sotelo.
She was charged with aiding her brother's jailbreak and court filings show she paid an unnamed individual $2,500 to leave the car in the jail parking lot that her brother would later use in his escape.
The getaway car would later be located on May 9 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
A fifth sibling, Griselle Marin Sotelo, was named by FBI officials in the escape plot by Adriana during a bond hearing on May 12, according to a report by WRAL.
That same WRAL report cites Adriana as being in the country illegally and the judge not knowing how many times she had crossed the U.S. border:
In court on Friday, the judge pointed out that she is not a U.S. citizen and has been deported before.
"We don't know how many times she's been able to cross the border," he said.
Marin-Sotelo Caught
On May 4, the FBI issued a statement that Marin-Sotelo had been caught - in Mexico.
“Alder Alfonso Marin Sotelo was taken into custody by Mexican authorities on May 4, 2023, after 13:00 EST, in the state of Guerrero,” the FBI statement said. “The investigation to determine his exact movements since he escaped from the Piedmont Regional Jail on April 30, 2023, is ongoing.”
Marin-Sotelo had managed to stay off the radar of both the Marshals and the FBI during his travels from the Farmville, Virginia jail all the way to Guerrero, on the southern coast of Mexico. Depending on the routes taken, that trip is anywhere from 2,400 to 2,500 miles by car.
Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe also issued a statement on Facebook regarding Marin-Sotelo being found to be in custody in Mexico.
The Byrd family has not issued any remarks or statements on the re-capture of Marin-Sotelo.