A Texas man has been indicted for escaping from federal custody, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
Court documents reveal that on October 11, 2024, Ismael Benavidez, aged 48, was in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons and confined to the Volunteers of America Residential Reentry Center in Minnesota when he left without authorization. Benavidez had been serving a sentence of 40 months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens on October 25, 2018, in Texas.
The indictment charges Benavidez with one count of escape from custody. During his arraignment hearing in U.S. District Court today, Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster ordered that Benavidez be detained pending further proceedings.
The case is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan B. Gilead.