For Immediate Release

El Paso, Texas – Emmanuel Matthew “Manny” Mendoza, 20, of Tracy, California, was expelled from the Republic of Mexico at the El Paso Port of Entry into the hands of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force yesterday after an international investigation culminated in Mendoza’s detention by Mexican authorities in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

Mendoza, a documented member of California’s West Side Tracy Nortenos street gang, was sought by law enforcement since his involvement in the botched robbery and subsequent murder in September 2010 of Kevin Prater II, of Tracy. California law enforcement authorities have been working this case feverishly in addition to seeking the public’s assistance through an airing of Mendoza on America’s Most Wanted.

Mendoza was detained by Mexican authorities and determined to have no immigration status to remain in the Republic of Mexico. Mendoza was expelled to the United States where Mendoza was formally arrested and remanded to the El Paso County Detention Facility pending further extradition proceedings.

Robert R. Almonte, United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas states, “On behalf of the law enforcement community and our international partners who worked tirelessly to see this arrest to the end, we hope this will bring a little closure to the Prater family.”

Members of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in El Paso –

• El Paso Police Department
• El Paso County Sheriff’s Office
• El Paso District Attorney’s Office
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Office of Inspector General
• Texas Department of Public Safety
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• U.S. Marshals Service

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

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