Roughly 1,000 child sex offenders in Tampa, Florida, have been nabbed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the four months of fiscal year 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced.
In a press release from CBP, it was revealed that Border Patrol agents, along with the Florida Department of Probation and Parole, arrested Troy Antonio Baldeo, 60, on April 17. The arrest of Baldeo, a registered sex offender, represented the 1,000th arrest for the Border Patrol’s Tampa Station.
Baldeo, a Trinidad and Tobago national, was intercepted and arrested by CBP officials on December 7, 2015, at John F. Kennedy International Airport as Baldeo was reportedly trying “to board a flight to Trinidad and Tobago,” according to the press release.
After being “extradited back to Hillsborough” and convicted in July 2016, Baldeo was released from prison in December 2025. After being released from prison, Baldeo later relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, before going to Florida, according to the press release.
“Supported by President Donald J. Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, this significant milestone is further proof that Border Patrol agents remain committed to making our communities safer by apprehending and removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” Samuel B. Briggs II, the acting chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s Miami Sector, said.
Baldeo, who was “convicted of five felony child sex offenses,” also reportedly “overstayed his nonimmigrant visa in March 2016” and has been in the United States illegally.
Other people whom the Border Patrol’s Tampa Station had apprehended included a Mexican national “determined to be a Sureños 13 gang member,” and a Venezuelan national who is “wanted for financial crimes.”
The Tampa Station, which “first opened in 1925 to respond to large smuggling rings entering Florida using Cuban fishing boats,” is now responsible for “12 counties in central and western Florida,” The Center Square reported.
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