Guatemalan National Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Reentry; Faces Deportation

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Erikx Soto-Gomez, age 41, a citizen of Guatemala, was sentenced yesterday to time-served (75 days in prison) by United States District Court Judge Julia K. Munley for illegally reentering the country after having previously been removed. 

According to Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Soto-Gomez was indicted by a federal grand jury after being arrested for Driving Under the Influence in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 2025. Soto-Gomez had previously been removed from the United States pursuant to a court order in 2012. Soto-Gomez pleaded guilty to illegal reentry before being sentenced.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francis P. Sempa and Tatum Wilson prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

Soto-Gomez still faces pending state charges in Lebanon County, and an ICE detainer is lodged against him for deportation proceedings.

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