News/Commentary

Illegal immigrant who savagely murdered kind father-of-four who took him in learns his sentence

March 4, 2023 | | Print Article

When 25-year-old Honduran national Yery Noel Medina Ulloa decided he’d illegally cross the U.S. border, he took advantage of the federal policy that mandates unaccompanied minors be placed in shelters rather than be refused entry.

With a fake name and a convincing tale in which he told border agents he was just 17, he was able to stay in the States.

Potentially one of the many migrants the Biden administration stuck on a plane and secretly flew to different American cities in the middle of the night, in 2021, Medina Ulloa ended up in Florida, where he was taken in by compassionate father of four, Francisco Javier Cuellar, 46.

“Law enforcement determined — with assistance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — that Medina Ulloa, a Honduran citizen, was apprehended by Border Patrol agents in McAllen, Texas, after attempting to illegally enter at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the office of State Attorney Melissa Nelson said in a statement. “Once apprehended, Medina Ulloa provided a false name, date of birth, and claimed to be a juvenile. Medina Ulloa was then served a Notice to Appear and released. Medina Ulloa was later flown to Jacksonville, Florida.”

Cuellar ran into the young migrant, took him home, and gave him a job at the family store.

“My dad told me one day he was going to the airport, and then this guy came out of nowhere and was at work the next day,” Cuellar’s daughter, MaryCarmen, who was 18 at the time, told the New York Post. “I didn’t really ask questions.”

Medina Ulloa told his mom that Cuellar treated him “like a son.”

Just days later, Medina Ulloa savagely murdered the kind good Samaritan.

Then-24-years-old, Medina Ulloa was accused of stabbing Cuellar “numerous times and repeatedly hitting him with a chair,” according to local police.

The brutal attack was caught on the home’s surveillance system camera.

Medina Ulloa was discovered by cops, covered in blood, wandering near a lake.

A trail of blood led police to Cuellar’s living room and the deceased father’s body.

“On Oct. 7, 2021, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to an Arlington address after witnesses were approached by Medina Ulloa, who was covered in blood,” Nelson’s statement reads. “Another witness responded to the scene and told officers he received a call and text from Medina Ulloa saying he had killed Cuellar. Officers saw Medina Ulloa covered in blood in a nearby neighborhood and observed a trail of blood in a driveway on Lone Star Road where the front door of the residence was partially open.”

The migrant promptly confessed to anyone who would listen.

He texted “that he had ‘killed Uncle Francisco,'” called a friend to confess, and sobbed on the phone to his mother, “I killed him. I killed him.”

On Friday, Medina Ulloa pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence, according to Nelson’s office.

“Pursuant to the plea agreement, the Honorable Mark Borello during a March 3, 2023, hearing sentenced Medina Ulloa to 60 years in Florida State Prison,” the attorney’s office stated.

Nelson pointed her finger at the Biden administration’s “failure” to handle the crisis at the Southern border, calling the crime a “travesty.”

“As we have seen time and time again, the federal government’s failure to secure our nation’s border has led to a travesty in a local community,”  she said. “This time, tragically, it was our community after an illegal alien murdered an innocent man.”

“This 60-year sentence, however,” she added, “ensures Medina Ulloa will never be able to harm another law-abiding citizen.”

Melissa Fine
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