HOUSTON — A 47-year-old Nicaraguan national who evaded U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades after sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl on a cruise ship that departed Galveston has entered a guilty plea to forcible sexual abuse of a minor, Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced.
Elias Luis Herrera worked as a crewman aboard the cruise ship in 2003 when he and fellow crewman Edgerton Phillip Medford grabbed the victim by her arms in the early morning hours of July 17 as she walked near a pool, forced her onto a deck chair, removed their uniforms, and took turns sexually assaulting her while she screamed. A federal grand jury returned an indictment in 2004.
Herrera fled from arrest in Cozumel, Mexico, while on a subsequent cruise and traveled to Costa Rica, where he remained a fugitive for over 20 years before his arrest and extradition to the United States in October 2025.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake accepted the plea and set sentencing for Sept. 18. Herrera faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He has remained in custody and will stay detained pending the hearing.
Medford was extradited in 2007, pleaded guilty, and was removed to St. Vincent and the Grenadines following his sentence.
The FBI’s Texas City Resident Agency conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Laurence Goldman and Kimberly Ann Bulger Leo prosecuted the case. The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica provided significant assistance in securing the extradition, with support from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. The Government of Costa Rica and the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of Costa Rica’s Office of Technical Assistance and International Relations assisted in making the extradition possible.
Herrera is scheduled to appear before Judge Lake for sentencing on Sept. 18 in Houston.