TWO ILLEGAL ALIENS PLEAD GUILTY TO ILLEGAL RE-ENTRY
ARTURO TORRES-LOPEZ , age 32, a citizen of Mexico, and NELFIN JESUALDO ZELAYA-ROSALES, age 31 a citizen of Honduras, each pled guilty in federal court today before U. S. District Judge Martin L. C. Feldman to separate one-count indictments charging them with illegal re-entry by a removed alien, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.
According to court documents, on April 11, 2012 and on March 12, 2012, TORRES and ZELAYA, respectively, being aliens who had previously been removed from the United States, were found in the United States, in Jefferson Parish within the Eastern District of Louisiana, without having obtained consent from the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to reapply for admission to the United States.
The indictment charging TORRES with one count of re-entry by a removed alien also included a notice of sentencing enhancement based on TORRES’s prior aggravated felony conviction. With the enhancement, the single count carries a maximum statutory penalty of twenty (20) years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. ZELAYA faces the maximum penalties of two (2) years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and one (1) year of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. Sentencing in both cases is scheduled for September 26, 2012 at 1:30 P.M.
TORRES’s case was investigated by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations. ZELAYA’s case was investigated by ICE, Enforcement and Removal Operations. Both cases are being prosecuted by Special Assistant U. S. Attorney Robert Weir.
