Mexican Citizen Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Interestate Travel with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct
Defendant Admitted to Sexual Relationship with 13-year-old Girl
Las Cruces – On March 22, 2011 in federal court in Las Cruces, Alejandro Jimenez-Rodas, 26, of Chiapas, Mexico, was sentenced to 46 months of imprisonment for travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Jimenez-Rodas also received a concurrent sentence of 36 months of imprisonment for falsely claiming to be a United States citizen. Jimenez-Rodas will be on supervised release for five years after his prison term and will be required to register as a sex offender.
United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that the charges stemmed from events occurring on August 10, 2010, at the United States Border Patrol checkpoint on I-10 in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Jimenez-Rodas, a passenger on a Greyhound bus, was questioned by Border Patrol agents at the checkpoint and falsely claimed that he had been born in Alabama and was a United States citizen. At the time, Jimenez-Rodas was traveling with a 13-year-old girl. Jimenez-Rodas admitted during his October 28, 2010, plea hearing that he was traveling from Mobile, Alabama to Tijuana, Mexico with the girl, and that he planned to take the girl to Chiapas, Mexico to live with him. Jimenez-Rodas also admitted that he had an ongoing sexual relationship with the girl since April 2010.
Jimenez-Rodas was arrested on August 10, 2010, and has remained in custody since his arrest. This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations in Las Cruces, and the United States Border Patrol, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrea W. Hattan.
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