Mexican Man Sentenced for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender

BOISE –  Manual Vera-Gonzalez, of Guanajuato, Mexico, was sentenced today to time served by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.  Vera-Gonzalez had served over seven months in custody since his arrest in April 2017.  Vera-Gonzalez pleaded guilty on August 30, 2017, to failure to register as a sex offender.

According to the plea agreement, Vera-Gonzalez is a native and citizen of Mexico.  Vera-Gonzalez had been removed from the United States to Mexico on or about August 15, 2016.  He returned to the United States and was discovered in Ada County, Idaho, in April 2017.  Vera-Gonzalez was required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) by virtue of his 2005 conviction for sexual battery by restraint in Orange County, California.  He was previously convicted in 2014 for failure to register as a sex offender in the District of Idaho.  Nonetheless, Vera-Gonzalez again knowingly failed to register as a sex offender, as he was required to do under SORNA.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement.