Honduran Man Guilty of Illegal Reentry

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – CHRISTIAN PENA-OCHOA (“PENA”), age 30, a Honduran citizen, pleaded guilty on November 5, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle, to illegal reentry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1326(a).

According to court documents, PENA initially illegally entered the United States in October of 2014. In 2018 PENA was convicted of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number and removed to Honduras. Between 2018 and 2020, PENA again illegally entered the United States. In December 2020, an arrest warrant was issued for PENA in Orleans Parish for domestic abuse battery/strangulation, aggravated battery, and extortion. A second warrant was issued against him for additional charges including rape, domestic abuse battery/strangulation, and false imprisonment while armed with a dangerous weapon. In 2022, PENA was located by the United States Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force in Harris County, Texas. He was extradited to Orleans Parish where he pleaded guilty to second degree rape and cruelty to juveniles.

PENA faces up to two years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, up to one year of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney David Berman of the Violent Crime Unit is in charge of the prosecution.