Guatemalan Deported Four Times Pleads Guilty To Illegal Re-Entry

ALBANY, NEW YORK – William Heriberto Reyes-Morales, age 42, of Guatemala, pled guilty on Friday to illegally re-entering the United States.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Michael T. Phillips, Buffalo Field Office Director of Enforcement & Removal Operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Reyes-Morales pled guilty to violating the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits previously removed aliens from being found in the United States without permission. 

ICE officers first encountered Reyes-Morales in the Montgomery County Jail on July 8, 2015.  A check of Reyes-Morales’s fingerprints indicated that he had been deported and removed from the United States to Guatemala a total of four times, the most recent removal being on July 19, 2012. 

Reyes-Morales faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on May 11, 2016 by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  Following his term of imprisonment, Reyes-Morales will be processed for removal from the United States.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is being prosecuted by Edward P. Grogan.