Businessman Busted for Harboring Illegal Alien Cop-Killer

A Texas businessman, who employed an illegal alien charged with capital murder in connection with the 2006 shooting death of Houston Police Department Officer Rodney Johnson, was arrested Wednesday and charged with harboring an illegal alien here. This case was investigated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Houston Police Department.

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Robert Lane Camp, 47, who owns Camp Landscaping in Deer Park, Texas, was charged by criminal complaint with encouraging Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez, the accused killer of Officer Johnson, to unlawfully enter the United States and with harboring Quintero-Perez.

The complaint was filed in federal court Monday, following an investigation by ICE special agents and the Houston Police Department. Camp surrendered to federal authorities at the U. S. Marshals Service where he was arrested. His initial appearance before US Magistrate Judge Stephen William Smith is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday.

According to court documents, Quintero-Perez was charged in 1998 with indecency with a child, a state felony offense. Quintero-Perez identified Camp as his employer at the time. Camp posted a $10,000 bond for Quintero-Perez, and he was released. Quintero-Perez was convicted and sentenced to probation for the state charges. 

Afterwards, immigration officers deported Quintero-Perez. However, he illegally reentered the country in 1999. Camp is accused by a federal criminal complaint of aiding Quintero-Perez to illegally return to the country in 1999, and providing Quintero with a job and a residence to lease upon Quintero-Perez' illegal return.

The criminal complaint against Camp alleges that in September 2006 Officer Johnson stopped Quintero-Perez, who was driving one of Camp's work vehicles. Officer Johnson arrested Quintero-Perez for failing to provide a driver's license. 

The officer handcuffed Quintero-Perez and placed him in his patrol car. State prosecutors have alleged that Quintero-Perez shot Johnson from the back seat of the patrol car with a gun he had hidden on his person. Officer Johnson died of his injuries. Quintero-Perez, who is charged with Officer Johnson's capital murder, remains in state custody pending trial. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

"Officer Rodney Johnson's terrible murder illustrates that hiring and harboring illegal aliens is not a victimless crime," said Robert Rutt, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Houston. 

"Many illegal aliens, especially aliens with criminal convictions, are desperate to avoid being detected and apprehended. These people also tend to take desperate actions, and the results are often tragic," he said.

Each of the two federal felony offenses alleged in the complaint carry a statutory maximum punishment of five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine upon conviction.