STERLING, Va. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a Prince George’s County, Md., rape suspect at Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday after a CBP officer realized the subject fled the United States on an earlier flight Wednesday.
While vetting passengers on departing international flights, a CBP officer was alerted to the presence of William Alfredo Ramirez Ramirez, a 35-year-old Honduras citizen and U.S. lawful permanent, traveling aboard a morning flight to Honduras through El Salvador.
Ramirez Ramirez was wanted by Prince George’s County on a full-extradition warrant for first degree rape. That warrant was filed late on Tuesday.
The CBP officer immediately contacted CBP’s National Targeting Center in Virginia and CBP’s Joint Security Program officers in El Salvador and coordinated the capture and return of Ramirez Ramirez as soon as he landed in El Salvador.
Ramirez Ramirez was placed on an immediate return flight to Washington Dulles International Airport where he was met by CBP officers about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
CBP turned Ramirez Ramirez over to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police.
Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
“This alleged rape suspect thought he could quietly escape justice; however, a quick-thinking Customs and Border Protection officer, with assistance from CBP National Targeting Center officers at home and CBP Joint Security Program officers with our foreign partners in El Salvador, quickly captured and returned this fugitive to justice in the United States,” said Christine Waugh, CBP’s Acting Area Port Director at the Area Port of Washington, D.C. ”CBP’s border security mission allows us to help our law enforcement partners to ensure that victims have a voice and that fugitives will have their day in court.”
In July, a CBP officer’s efforts led to the capture a 70-year-old man as he landed in Lima, Peru. This subject was wanted by Stafford County, Va., Sheriff’s Office on 12 counts of aggravated sexual acts against a 10-year-old child.
CBP often works with its interagency law enforcement partners to apprehend dangerous fugitives. On a typical day last year, CBP processed an average of nearly 900,000 arriving travelers every day at our nation’s airports, seaports, and land border crossings, and arrested an average of 41 wanted persons.
CBP’s border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
See what CBP accomplished during “A Typical Day” in 2022. Learn more at www.CBP.gov.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos, and CBP’s Office of Field Operations on Instagram at @cbpfieldops.
