A suspect in the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston last week was wearing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) ankle bracelet at the time of the crime.

Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, one of the suspects behind the murder, appeared in court Monday at Harris County Criminal Court, where it was revealed that he was wearing the ankle monitor at the time he allegedly murdered Nungaray.

The ankle bracelet was provided to him when he was arrested by Border Patrol agents after entering the country illegally and being released from custody, with ICE telling Fox News in a statement Friday that he “illegally entered the U.S. without inspection, parole or admission by a U.S. immigration officer on an unknown date and at an unknown location.”

ICE also has a retainer on Ramos, the agency said.

JOCELYN NUNGARAY MURDER: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT ACCUSED OF KILLING HOUSTON GIRL HAS BAIL SET AT $10M

Judge Josh Hill, who presided over Monday’s proceedings, also noted that Ramos and 21-year-old Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, the other suspect in the case, faced allegations that they were attempting to gather money to flee town.

The judge set Ramos’ bail to $10 million during the appearance, more than double the $5 million requested by prosecutors.

Pena’s defense had suggested a bail set at $1 million, but the judge argued he represented an “astronomical” flight risk and said the chances of the suspect returning to court would be “near zero.”

If Ramos were to make bail, the judge ordered that he must wear a GPS monitor, be on house arrest 24/7, remain in Harris County, have no contact with the other suspect or the victim’s family, not have contact with anyone under the age of 18, not be in possession of firearms, drugs, or alcohol, and to surrender his passport.

Franklin Jose Pena Ramos appears in court on Monday, June 24. (KRIV)

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECTS IN TEXAS GIRL’S MURDER WERE RECENTLY CAUGHT BY BORDER PATROL, RELEASED INTO US 

Ramos and Martinez are accused of luring the young girl under a bridge in Houston before tying her up and killing her. 

“In this case the defendant lured a 12-year-old under a bridge, where he and his co-defendant remained with her for over 2 hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou,” Harris County Assistant District Attorney Michael Abner wrote.

Jocelyn Nungaray, 12, was found strangled to death in a Houston creek this week. (Fox Houston courtesy of the Nungaray family)

Investigators were able to use surveillance video to track the movements of the two before and after the killing, police said.

Both suspects are charged with capital murder, while Martinez is set to appear in court for the first time on Tuesday.

A Southern California man was sentenced to prison Thursday for rape and sex crimes against his younger sister.

Stephen Delacruz, 37, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for crimes that he committed when he was 14 and 15 years old against his sister, who was 8 years old at the time, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

In 2019, the victim, identified as Samantha J., walked into the Oxnard Police Department to report the crimes that took place in 2001 and 2002.

During the incidents, Delacruz isolated Samantha in their Oxnard home and threatened to kill her if she ever reported him, court documents said.

Delacruz often displayed a knife prior to the sexual assaults, authorities said.

Charges were initially filed at the DA’s office in juvenile court, alleging Delacruz was a minor when the incidents happened.

However, Senior Deputy DA Erik Nasarenko sought to transfer the case from juvenile court to adult court, arguing the “crimes involved significant sophistication and planning and were especially violent and severe.”

The juvenile court judge agreed and transferred the case. However in 2022, the state legislature amended the criteria that juvenile court judges had to consider when deciding to transfer a case to adult court.

“The new criteria required courts to determine “by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation through the juvenile court,” officials noted.

This prompted a transfer hearing before another Ventura County judge applied the new criteria and deemed the case worthy of transferring to adult court, stating the “allegations were horrendous.”

Before the case went to trial, Delacruz pled guilty to all eight felony charges filed against him including three counts of forcible rape, three counts of forcible oral copulation and two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object. He also admitted to special allegations that the victim was under 18 years of age.

“Samantha demonstrated great resiliency and determination as she fought for justice and accountability in this case,” Nasarenko said. “Facing her brother during today’s sentencing to give her victim impact statement took incredible strength and courage.”

Delacruz was sentenced to 30 years in state prison.

An illegal immigrant from Honduras who was taken to a Texas hospital in March for pneumonia died days later after she fell upon being released by border authorities, officials said last week. 

The unidentified woman died on April 4 while being treated at the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, following her fall in another hospital, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday. 

The unidentified woman was arrested by Texas state troopers on March 16 near the Travis D. Kelly Hydroelectric Water Plant near Eagle Pass. She told authorities she had attempted suicide three months prior by stopping her medication, U.S. Customs and Border Protections said Friday. 

BIDEN OFFERS ‘CONDOLENCES’ BUT NO SOLUTION AFTER LATEST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDER ALLEGATION

Emergency services were requested after staffers at the Val Verde Processing Center (VVPC) in Del Rio noticed she had trouble breathing. Meanwhile, she was charged with criminal trespassing in Maverick County. 

A judge determined there was cause to believe that the woman had a mental illness or had an intellectual disability and ordered a service provider with VVPC to provide mental health or intellectual and developmental disability services to her.

On March 17, the woman was transferred to the Lopez State Jail in Edinburg, Texas and released days before being transferred to the Jim Hogg Temporary Processing Center (JHPC), in Hebbronville, Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents there were told that the charges against her were dismissed, and that she was being transferred into their custody, authorities said. 

MARYLAND DEMS MOURN MOM ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BUT BACK BIDEN’S BORDER ORDER

An Eagle Pass Border Patrol agent looks over the Rio Grande scanning the area illegal traffic, February 06, 2003. Hundreds of illegal immigrants attempt to cross the U.S.- Mexican border daily.  (Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images)

The woman was diagnosed with pnenmonia on March 27 and taken to the Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Additionally, she was released from CBP custody the next day with a notice to appear in court. She remained in the hospital for treatment. 

On March 30, she fell in the hospital and sustained a subdural hematoma, CBP said. 

“After the fall, LMC medical staff monitored her, and on the morning of April 1, 2024, the woman had a change in mental status and required intubation,” the agency said in a statement. “She was subsequently transferred to BAMC in San Antonio, Texas, for advanced medical care. Two days later, the woman died.”

An autopsy was performed and a cause of death is pending.