OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) Weeks after federal immigration agents raided an Oklahoma City home and removed a U.S. citizen and her daughters at gunpoint, KFOR has uncovered documents disproving a claim shared by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—which suggested the property was still owned by a woman indicted for human smuggling at the time of the raid.
Now, despite the fact that records show the suspected human smuggler sold the home well before a federal judge issued the search warrant for it, the U.S. government is trying to seize the home from its new owner.
As News 4 first reported on April 25, agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security burst into the home with guns drawn, forced a woman, who News 4 is calling Marissa, and her three daughters outside, and taking their phones and money—despite their names not appearing anywhere on the search warrant.
‘Marissa’ and her daughters had just moved into the home from Maryland and had only been living there for a couple of weeks.
Marissa told News 4 she saw agents from ICE, the FBI and U.S. Marshals present during the raid.
The FBI and U.S. Marshals later denied involvement.
As News 4 has reported since the beginning, the search warrant agents served was validly-issued by a federal judge one day prior to the raid, on April 23.
As News 4 previously reported, the warrant authorized federal agents to enter the home and seize certain items regardless of who was inside, however, it listed 8 specific people as its “targets.”
But none of the eight people were Marissa, or her daughters, or her husband, or anyone else they knew.
The names on the warrant were ones Marissa said she recognized from mail still arriving at the house.
She told News 4 she assumed they belonged to the previous residents.
As News 4 previously reported, DHS later admitted the home’s previous residents were the actual targets of the raid.
Former Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Tim Gilpin questioned how much law enforcement knew before executing the search.
“I wonder if the law enforcement agency had the correct information, if they did their duty and responsibility to double check the information, and what was their level of certainty that they had the right house and the right people?” Gilpin said.
In a second press release posted to X, formerly Twitter, the day after the agency admitted Marissa and her family were not the intended targets, DHS defended the raid.
In the release, DHS stated it had surveillance on the home and presented a judge with evidence it was being used as a “stash house” by a human smuggling group. DHS also said one of the eight suspects named in the warrant had paid the home’s utility bill, though the agency would not say when that payment occurred.
DHS said it had “not ruled out current occupants” from its investigation.
DHS issued another press release a week after News 4’s first report.
The release included facts News 4 had previously shared: that the raid, based on a lawful court order from a judge, was targeting a suspected human smuggling operation.
However, the release also shared reports from other media outlets, which claimed one of the eight human smuggling suspects named in the search warrant, a woman named Cidia Lima Lopez, still owned the house at the time of the raid on April 24.
DHS cited those reports’ claims as “fact” in its news release.
But News 4 found—that is not true.
News 4 obtained a copy of a deed, on file with Oklahoma County, showing Lima Lopez sold the home more than a week before the judge even signed the warrant.
It was signed, stamped and notarized in Oklahoma County on April 14.
Records on Zillow show the home was listed for sale on March 18—more than one month before the judge signed the warrant.
News 4 also found a March 29 Facebook post from the home’s new owner advertising it for rent, verifying Marissa and her family were renting the home from its new owner, not a woman indicted for human smuggling.
News 4 asked DHS if their investigators were aware the home had been sold and if they made that fact clear to the judge when they asked the judge to sign the warrant.
DHS did not answer News 4’s question.
Gilpin said that information may not have changed the judge’s decision, but it raises questions about the accuracy of what investigators presented.
“It may have helped him to have looked at a sale of the house and to check out the names of who’s the new owner,” Gilpin said. “It’s not unusual, though, in criminal enterprises that property switches hands.”
On top of all that, federal prosecutors now want to seize the home.
News 4 obtained a legal notice, filed May 7 by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, stating the government is seeking forfeiture of the property as part of the human smuggling investigation in which Lima Lopez, the home’s former owner, was indicted.
The deed confirming Lima Lopez no longer owns the home has been publicly available online since at least April 30; however, the court filing still lists “Cidia Lima Lopez”—the home’s former owner—as the “defendant.” It does not mention the new owner at all.
Gilpin said it may still be legal for the government to seize the home from its new owner under federal forfeiture laws.
“Most people don’t realize that the government has a great deal of power when it comes to seizing assets and when they suspect criminal enterprise is associated with the assets,” he said.
We asked the Assistant U.S Attorney, who filed the motion to seize the home, “Why would the new owner be forced to give up the home they just purchased?”
Sara Conley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma, sent us this statement:
We receive cases from various federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies for possible prosecution and suspected violations of federal law. Each case is reviewed based on the available evidence and assessed to determine whether it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. However, we cannot provide any information regarding the existence of any potential evidence or ongoing investigations.
Sara Conley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma
DHS has not answered questions about whether its agents knew the house had been sold, listed for rent and occupied by an unrelated family for several weeks before the raid.
News 4 also sent the following 10 questions to a DHS spokesperson:
- Were your investigators aware Cidia Marleny Lima Lopez did not own the home at the time they asked the judge for the warrant on 4/23?
- Did your investigators make the judge aware of the fact Cidia Marleny Lima Lopez was not the owner of the home before the judge signed the warrant?
- If your investigators were unaware Cidia Marleny Lima Lopez was no longer the owner of the home at that time—why? Did they not check with the county to confirm via property records?
- In one of your releases, you mention one of the members of the Lima Lopez human smuggling group was still actively paying utilities at the home. What date was that utility bill paid? Was it before or after the home was sold on 4/14?
- Were your agents aware the home had been publicly listed for rent? If so, why did they seem unaware of the fact renters were living inside at the time of the raid?
- Why has DHS not returned the renters’ property back to them?
- Does DHS suspect [the home’s new owner] is part of the Lima Lopez human smuggling group? If so, why [have they] not been arrested?
- Last week, the U.S. government filed a lien to seize the home from its current owner. Why?
- In the statement in which you said: “we have not ruled out current occupants involvement in the smuggling ring”… which residents are you referring to specifically? Why are they not listed as suspects or “targets” in the search warrant? Why have they not been arrested?
- Would you be willing or able to unseal the 84-page affidavit you referenced so the public can better understand all the evidence you presented the judge to make him comfortable with signing off on the warrant?
DHS responded with a repeated statement that the warrant was for the property, not individuals, and that the search was authorized by a judge—as News 4 has always reported.
They did not answer any of News 4’s specific questions.
Meanwhile, Marissa and her family still have not received their phones or money back.
As News 4 previously reported, members of Congress have asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the case, seeking a timeline for the return of Marissa’s property.
At last week’s congressional hearing, Noem said she could not share a timeline because the investigation is still ongoing.
Noem again defended the actions of agents and reiterated the search warrant was for the home, not people.
