Threatening Charge Dropped During Orozco Hearing
More than 20 Froid residents traveled to the Missouri River Courthouse in Great Falls for the second time in as many weeks to show support for Roberto Orozco-Ramirez and his family at a hearing in U.S. District Court on Monday, Feb. 9.
Orozco faces one charge of Illegal Reentry to the U.S., which carries a possible penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He pleaded not guilty. A second charge of threatening a federal officer, which appeared on the original criminal complaint, was not on the indictment handed down by a grand jury.
Orozco, a local father, coach and businesses owner, surrendered to authorities Jan. 25, with Roosevelt County Sheriff Jason Frederick serving as an intermediary. According to Sheriff Frederick, U.S. Border Patrol agents had been staging near Orozco’s home and place of business in the Froid area in the weeks leading up to his surrender. Frederick confirmed that Orozco was removed from the Roosevelt County Detention Center Jan. 27, in violation of an agreement with USBP. Orozco has been in custody in Great Falls since that time.
A Jan. 25 press release from Sheriff Frederick stated, “It’s important to note that the man and his family have been productive members of the community and have had no negative interactions with local law enforcement since they moved here over a decade ago. The man posed no danger to the community at any point during this incident.”
Froid Council member Laurie Young spoke from the road Feb. 9 while she and others made the journey back to Roosevelt County. “I was happy to see the threatening charge was dropped,” she said.
The dropped charge included possible penalties of up to six years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
Froid’s Keith Nordlund said that he was also glad to see the threatening charge dropped. “Overall, I am happy, hopefully they will do a detention hearing before long and we can get him home and back to his family as this plays out,” Nordlund said. “We are still asking people to call as many politicians as we can in hopes of finding a way to make him legal.”
Government lawyers told Judge John Johnston that Orozco represented a flight risk at Monday’s hearing, though they did not give a reason. A date for the next hearing in the case has yet to be announced.
Orozco’s oldest son, Roberto Orozco-Lazcano, told this newspaper that his family appreciates the ongoing support from the Froid and wider communities. “We want to thank all the people who are supporting us and helping us with all this that is happening,” said Orozco-Lazcano. “Please keep calling local politicians. That is helping us a lot.”
