BALTIMORE – A Stafford County, Va., rape suspect is behind bars in Peru due to the quick actions of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, and a quick-thinking U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer.
Geronimo Johnny Neyra, a 70-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Peru, is behind bars in Lima, Peru pending extradition to Stafford County on 12 counts of aggravated sexual acts against a 10-year-old child.
Stafford County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to a complaint on July 6 and was alerted to the allegations. The following day, a deputy U.S. Marshal learned that Neyra boarded a Lima-bound flight and notified CBP.
A CBP officer, who serves as a task force officer detailed to a Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, worked with CBP’s National Targeting Center to search passenger manifests and identify the specific flight that Neyra was on.
That CBP officer also had the fugitive case adopted by the U.S. Marshals Service Capital Area Fugitive Task Force, which led to the Department of Justice expediting an INTERPOL Red Notice in time for Neyra’s flight to land in Lima that same day. Peruvian law enforcement took Neyra into custody upon his arrival.
Extradition proceedings continue.
Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
“The immediate international arrest of this fleeing fugitive is an example of incredibly quick-thinking and resourceful law enforcement officers, and illustrates the need for, and benefits to interagency cooperation at all levels of law enforcement,” Stephen Maloney, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “CBP’s border security mission allows us to ensure that victims have a voice and that fugitives will have their day in court.”
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.
