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A Guatemalan national pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to illegally reentering the United States after deportation.
Darwin Geovani Herrera Orellana, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock scheduled sentencing for May 5, 2022. Herrera Orellana was indicted in September 2021.
Herrera Orellana was initially encountered in Arizona in 2009, determined to be illegally present in the United States and subsequently deported. Sometime thereafter his removal, Herrera Orellana illegally reentered the United States and was arrested in Texas in 2012. Herrera Orellana was again placed into removal proceedings and deported.
In December 2020, Herrera Orellana was arrested in Waltham and charged with, among other things, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. In June 2021, he was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and sentenced to 14 months in prison. In July 2021, while serving this sentence in the Middlesex County House of Correction, agents determined that Herrera Orellana was illegally present in the United States after the fingerprints from his Waltham arrest and noncitizen records were determined to be a positive match. Upon completion of his prison sentence, Herrera Orellana was subsequently transferred into federal custody where he remains detained.
The charge of unlawful reentry of a deported alien provides for a sentence of up to two years in prison, one year of supervised released and a fine of up to $250,000. Herrera Orellana will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell and Todd M. Lyons, Field Office Director, Boston, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth G. Shine of Mendell’s Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.
