French Citizen Sentenced to About Four Months for Being in the United States after Removal

Bangor, Maine: Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy announced that Philippe Maurice, 50, a citizen of France, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to time served (113 days) and one year of supervised release for entering the United States after having been removed and deported. He pleaded guilty on June 19, 2017.

Court documents reveal that on May 17, 2017, U.S. Border Patrol agents found the defendant riding a bike on a dirt logging road in Portage, Maine. The defendant claimed he was a U.S. citizen. When an agent asked the defendant for proof of citizenship, he produced a French driver’s license. The defendant then acknowledged that he was a French citizen, that friends had dropped him off in Canada near the border, and that he had entered the United States illegally by riding a bike through the closed St. Pamphile Port of Entry. Immigration records showed that the defendant had been removed from the United States in 2015.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol.