ICE and Greeley, Colo., Gang Task Force target "Sureno 13" gang member

GREELEY, Colo. - A member of the violent street gang Sureno 13 was arrested here Saturday by Greeley Gang Task Force officers, with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents.

Renato Rodarte-Bueno, 33, from Mexico, was arrested at a Greeley, Colo., apartment about 9 p.m., on Feb. 2, on state criminal charges of child abuse/neglect and possessing marijuana. He was allegedly smoking marijuana while watching his 3-year-old child.

ICE also placed a detainer on Rodarte-Bueno on federal immigration administrative charges, and criminal charges for reentering the United States after having been previously deported. Rodarte-Bueno remains in state custody.

ICE agents originally targeted Rodarte-Bueno for arrest after they discovered that he had returned to the Greeley, Colo., area after his deportation in 1997. Reentry into the United States after being formally deported is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Rodarte-Bueno is an identified active Sureno 13 gang member. He has felony convictions for robbery and theft in the Santa Barbara County, Calif., Superior Court in 1993 and 1994. He was sentenced to seven years in a California prison. Before his convictions and deportation, he was a U.S. permanent resident.

The Greeley Gang Task Force learned that Rodarte-Bueno was returning to the area on the El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Bus Line on the night of Feb. 1. He had taken an extended trip to Los Angeles, Calif., and didn't resurface in Greeley until the afternoon of Feb. 2.

The U.S. Attorney's Office District of Colorado has accepted federal prosecution of Rodarte-Bueno for "reentry after deportation."

"Gang members represent a significant threat to public safety throughout the United States," said Jeffrey Copp, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Denver. "ICE closely partners with local law enforcement agencies to especially target transnational gang members, and ultimately deport them to their countries of origin." Copp oversees a four-state area that includes: Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.