A Guatemalan man has been charged with assaulting a federal officer during an attempted traffic stop near his Bloomington home as authorities pursued an immigration arrest, according to federal prosecutors.
Roberto Carlos Munoz, 39, was charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota after agents from the FBI, Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations attempted to arrest him on a warrant stemming from his illegal entry into the country.
Munoz, a Guatemalan citizen, previously pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving repeated abuse of a minor. Upon his arrest in 2022, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer for him.
“That detainer was not honored by local authorities and Munoz was released from custody,” according to a release from the office of acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson.
A federal criminal complaint alleges authorities stopped Munoz in a car about 8 a.m. Tuesday and repeatedly asked him to lower his window and open the door. Munoz rolled his window “one-third” of the way down, the court filing said, but no lower. An Enforcement and Removal Operations officer used a window punch tool to break the rear window and reached inside to unlock the door.
With the officer’s arm still inside, Munoz put the vehicle in drive and drove onto the curb, the charges said. The officer was dragged alongside the vehicle and twice fired his Taser as Munoz weaved back and forth “in an apparent attempt to shake” him from the car. About 300 feet down the road, Munoz re-entered the street and the force knocked the officer from the car.
The officer required 20 stitches for a deep cut in his right arm and another 13 stitches in his left hand, the complaint said.
Munoz was arrested after the incident and was in custody at the Sherburne County jail Tuesday night.
