Feds: Man Here Illegally From Mexico Got MacDill Base Access Pass

Posted Jan 15, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Jan 15, 2012 at 10:18 AM

What does a 2-year-old being fatally shot in the head in Ocoee have to do with someone being able to get a MacDill Air Force Base access pass with a fake ID?

Plenty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which says that Javier Farias-Mendoza, 20, of Ocoee did both.

According to a federal indictment handed up Jan. 11, Farias-Mendoza, who investigators say came into this country illegally from Mexico, had a trail of false identifications unravel the day after Christmas.

The false identifications included one he presented to base security at MacDill, the secure home of U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and the 6th Air Mobility Wing.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, citing an Ocoee police arrest affidavit:
Ocoee police officers contacted Farias-Mendoza at Health Central Hospital on December 26, 2011, when hospital personnel reported that a 2-year old child had been admitted with a gunshot wound to the head. After being advised of his constitutional rights, Farias-Mendoza admitted that he had been trying to put away his .22 caliber pistol when it discharged through the wall of his bedroom. After hearing yelling in the adjacent bedroom, Farias-Mendoza had set the pistol down and discovered that his two year-old cousin had been shot in the head. The child later died from the injury. Authorities subsequently recovered the .22 caliber pistol that had been in the home.

Upon further questioning, Farias-Mendoza admitted that he had purchased the firearm a year earlier and had been shooting it as recently as Christmas Eve, from a moving vehicle on local roadways. He acknowledged that he is a Mexican citizen and in the United States illegally - a fact subsequently confirmed by federal immigration agents. As an illegal alien, Farias-Mendoza is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition under federal law.

Now here is where the press release gets interesting, as far as MacDill goes.

The indictment also charges Farias-Mendoza with making a false statement or declaration to a federal agency. According to the indictment, on or about June 16,  2011, Farias-Mendoza falsely identified himself to an employee at the MacDill Air Force Base Visitor Center as “Christian Galarza-Rodriguez.” Based on the alleged false statement, Farias-Mendoza was able to have a MacDill Air Force Base access pass issued to him in the alias name.

Farias-Mendoza is charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition by an illegal alien and making a false statement to a federal agency. If convicted on all counts, Farias-Mendoza faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.

I sent an email into MacDill’s public affairs office for comment, but, out of fairness, being that I just learned of this and only sent it out the Sunday morning of a national holiday weekend (Martin Luther King Jr. Day),  chances are I won’t hear back from them until Tuesday and I can’t say I would expect to.

But stay tuned…