El Salvadoran man wanted for 20 years in Texas is arrested in Lorain County

An El Salvadoran man wanted for 20 years on sexual assault charges in Texas was taken into custody Friday by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office during an ongoing drug and human trafficking investigation. The Sheriff's Office announced Saturday that Manuel Aquiles Lobo, 62, was wanted by the Harris County Sheriff's Office in Houston, Texas for sexual assault. In a Facebook post, the Sheriff's Office said Lobo was found with another man "who had an extensive criminal history of sexual assault and other violent acts." With outstanding warrants and federal detainers on each of them, both Lobo and the other man were turned over to U.S. Border Patrol agents, the Sheriff's Office said. Sheriff's spokesman Maj. A.J. Torres on Saturday identified the second man as 48-year-old Manuel Benicio Cruz-Gary, who was holding an El Salvadoran ID. He was cited with a misdemeanor traffic violation and released to the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol, Torres said. Torres declined Saturday to say exactly where or in what city the men were arrested, citing an ongoing criminal investigation. Both men allegedly entered the United States illegally and traveled to Lorain County, where the Sheriff's Office said they were "associating with known targets of an ongoing investigation by deputies assigned to the drug and human trafficking task forces." Lobo does not appear to have a prior criminal record in Lorain County, according to a search of jail, municipal and county Common Pleas Court records. The Facebook post did not name the second man or list any charges against him. Further information on his identity was requested from a Sheriff's Office spokesman. According to the Sheriff's Office and an online sex offender database in Texas, Lobo was charged and convicted of the crime of "indecency with a child by contact" in Texas in June 1998 and sentenced to probation. The victim was a 14-year-old girl, according to Lobo's entry on The Texas Public Sex Offender Website. Lobo's name, date of birth and charges on the database entry matched the information the Sheriff's Office provided in its Facebook post. The website said Lobo was required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He first registered with the Pasadena Police Department in Texas July 1999 before being deported back to El Salvador in 1999. That department verified his registration again in September 2003. Lobo reentered the U.S. at some point and was charged with sexual assault in Harris County, Texas in 2005. The Lorain County Sheriff's Office said Lobo had been on the run until deputies captured him on Friday, and that Texas authorities were likely to ask he be extradited to Houston to face charges. A photo of Lobo's El Salvadoran passport shared online by the Sheriff's Office showed that it was last renewed at the El Salvadoran consulate in Houston in 2022. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com