Man who fled U.S. after child porn charges was hiding out in Guyana

Sep 03, 2018 News

A Southern Colorado man, who skipped the (U.S) United States shortly after being charged with the transportation of child pornography, was said to have made his way to Guyana on a falsely acquired passport.
According to the U.S Department of Justice (DoJ), Ronald Ray Horner, 58, of Huerfano County ended up in Trinidad and Tobago after being deported from Guyana.
DoJ documents released on Friday showed that a Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent subsequently spoke with Horner in Trinidad and Tobago, confiscated the passport, and arranged for his transportation back to the United States.
During the summer of 2016, Horner was indicted in the District of Montana for the offence of Transportation of Child Pornography. As a result of that offence, he appeared in court, and was released on bond, subject to various conditions.
Two of those conditions were that he was required to surrender his passport and was ordered not to obtain another one.
According to the DoJ, on August 9, 2016, the defendant went to the United States Post Office in Walsenburg, Colorado and submitted an application for a passport.
DoJ documents stated that he claimed that he had lost his passport, explaining, “Passport was left in suitcase after vacation (Jan 2016). Suitcase had torn seam and was discarded. I forgot the passport was in the suitcase.”
He further explained that he threw the suitcase in a dumpster outside a Mini Mart in Walsenburg, Colorado in January 2016. He submitted these forms, along with the requisite forms of identification, as his application for a new passport.
Shortly thereafter, Horner received a new passport in the mail. He left Colorado, traveled to Mexico on September 3, 2016, and then made his way through multiple countries in South America, including Brazil and Uruguay, before landing in Guyana.
Following the defendant’s return to the United States, he was convicted of Transportation of Child Pornography in Montana and sentenced to 154 months.
In a statement released on Friday, the DoJ explained that Homer was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Philip A. Brimmer to serve 27 months in federal prison, followed by three years on supervised release for making false statements in the application and use of passports
According to the DoJ statement, Judge Brimmer ordered that the sentences be served consecutively.
“This case demonstrates why keeping our passport system secure is so important,” said U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer.
“By lying to get a new passport, a person charged with child porn crimes was able to travel to five other countries while he was under indictment. We can’t and won’t allow that,” he added.
“The Diplomatic Security Service is firmly committed to making sure that those who commit passport and visa fraud face consequences for their criminal actions,” said Resident Agent in Charge Angela Brenner of the Diplomatic Security Service.
She noted, “The strong relationship we enjoy with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement agencies around the world is vital towards ensuring the integrity of U.S. travel documents and protecting greater U.S. interests.”

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