Violent Prison Escapee Should Have Been Deported in 1998

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

One of three dangerous Orange County jail escapees was first ordered deported in 1998, but never was.

The three prisoners had each been charged with violent crimes, including torture and murder. They escaped the Orange County Men’s Central Jail last Friday.

43-year-old Bac Duong was first ordered removed from the United States to his home country of Vietnam in 1998. Most recently, Duong was being held on charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Fellow escapee Hossein Nayeri, 37, was facing kidnapping and torture charges; and Jonathan Tieu, 20, faced charges of murder and attempted murder. Both Duong and Tieu have been tied to Vietnamese gangs.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provided the following details on Duong:

1991: Duong was admitted to the United States as a legal permanent resident.

1998: Duong was ordered removed from the U.S. to Viet Nam.

2003: Duong removal appeal dismissed, Duong taken into custody.

Duong was later released and had been reporting on order of supervision until 2014.

2015: Duong — an alien with multiple criminal convictions — was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

ICE issued a request for notification should Duong be released following his December 2015 arrest.

The full ICE statement on Duong reads:

Department of Homeland Security databases indicate Mr. Duong is a citizen of Viet Nam who was admitted to the U.S. as a legal permanent resident in 1991. In 1998, he was ordered removed to his home country by an immigration judge. An appeal he filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals was dismissed, and he was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in 2003. Mr. Duong was released from custody on an order of supervision the following year, and had been reporting as required until August 2014.  Based on his status as an alien with multiple criminal convictions including multiple aggravated felonies, ICE officers lodged a detainer against Mr. Duong following his arrest by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in December, seeking notification prior to his release from local custody.

The U.S. formed an accord with Vietnam in 2008, where Vietnam agreed to issue documents required to remove citizens of their country who came to the U.S. illegally after 1995, according to ICE.

Deputy district attorney likened co-escapee Nayeri to “Hannibal Lecter,” describing him as “diabolical…sophisticated, incredibly violent and cunning.” Nayeri has ties to Iran. Accusations against Nayeri include working with an accomplice to torture a man with fire, pouring bleach over him and cutting off his penis.

The three escapees are still on the loose as of the most recent reports. ABC 13 reported that five people have been arrested in the course of looking for the three dangerous escapees. Authorities believe at least two of the men may be embedded in the local vietnamese community.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. A $200,000 reward has been offered for information leading to arrest of the escapees.

Five-times deportee, seven-time convicted felon illegal alien Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez made national headlines last July when he killed young Kate Steinle at a San Francisco pier.

Lopez Sanchez admitted shooting Steinle in a jailhouse confession.

ICE had issued a detainer request for the criminal alien, but was not notified when San Francisco officials ordered the detainee transferred to the sanctuary city, then dismissed other charges against him and released Lopez-Sanchez just weeks before the Steinle shooting.

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana

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