A former Guatemalan chief of police was found guilty of visa fraud charges after omitting two prior murder convictions on his U.S. green card application, federal prosecutors revealed Monday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said that 82-year-old Catalino Esteban Valiente Alonzo of Fontana was found guilty last week of knowing use of a Lawful Permanent Resident card that was procured by means of a false claim or statement.

Evidence presented at Alonzo’s trial showed that the former chief of the National Police in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, entered the U.S. in 2013 by using a fraudulently obtained green card that left out the 1989 double murder conviction in his home country.

That offense stems from an “investigation” Alonzo ordered into two anti-police protesters, according to prosecutors, who were kidnapped in broad daylight in October 1987. Their bodies were found in separate locations days later, and U.S. prosecutors said they were tortured before they were killed.

Alonzo and others were charged in December of that same year for their roles in the kidnappings and murders. The former top cop was held in jail for two and a half years during the criminal proceedings until he was convicted in both murders in 1989.

He was given a 30-year sentence, but in 1990 he was released from custody after his conviction was overturned and the charges against him dismissed.

Alonzo fled to the U.S. immediately following his release and applied for asylum, where he “falsely denied that he had ever been detained, convicted, sentenced or imprisoned in another country,” according to the attorney’s office.

He repeated the lie when applying for a green card in 1997, and again when being interviewed by U.S. immigration officials.

The Supreme Court of Guatemala had already put out a warrant for his arrest in 1993 after it vacated the ruling that overturned his conviction.

Alonzo faces a maximum of 10 years in prison during his sentencing hearing scheduled for May 24.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.