DPS Arrests Convicted Child Molester From Guatemala During Operation Lone Star

DEL RIO — During an Operation Lone Star patrol in Val Verde County, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) arrested a convicted child molester from Guatemala who had a history of illegal reentry into the United States.

On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, just after 11:30 a.m., a DPS trooper encountered a man walking along US-90 near Del Rio. The individual, 50-year-old Jorge Mario Ecute Gonzalez of Guatemala, was identified as an aggravated deported felon. Further investigation revealed that Gonzalez had previously served prison time for first-degree child molestation in Missouri.

Gonzalez was convicted in 2017 by the 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, and sentenced to five years in prison. He was removed from the United States in 2020 but unlawfully reentered in 2022. In 2023, he faced federal prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Del Rio for illegal reentry as an aggravated felon, and he was removed again in 2024.

Gonzalez was taken into custody by DPS and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.