Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), Miami Field Office, announce that defendant Jose Aparicio-Vecerra, 27, formerly of St. Lucie County, was found guilty of illegal entry into the United States by a deported alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. section 1326(a).

According to evidence presented at trial, Vecerra was deported to Mexico by the Department of Homeland Security on March 31, 2006, at which time he was also warned that he could not lawfully reenter the United States without first applying for and receiving permission of the Secretary for Homeland Security. On being found in Fort Pierce in April 2006, Vecerra admitted to interviewing Immigration agents that he had previously been deported, that he was not a U.S. citizen, and that he had reentered the United States illegally.

Sentencing has been scheduled for February 27, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore at the United States Courthouse in Fort Pierce. At sentencing, Vecerra faces a possible maximum statutory sentence of 2 years in prison.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the ICE-HSI. Mr. Ferrer also thanked the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, the Fort Pierce Police Department, and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, and Border Patrol for their work on this investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein.

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A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.