Dominican Man Pleads Guilty To Illegally Reentering The United States After Having Been Previously Deported

            CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE –United States Attorney Emily Gray Rice announced today that Filipe Villar-Arias, of the Dominican Republic, has pleaded guilty to reentering the United States after having been deported previously.

            Villar-Arias pleaded guilty before United States District Chief Judge Joseph Laplante to an indictment that had been returned by a federal grand jury on July 27, 2016.

            According to court filings and statements in court, a New Hampshire State Police Trooper contacted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deportation Officer for assistance in identifying the defendant who was suspected of having previously obtained a New Hampshire driver’s license by presenting fraudulent identification and who was attempting to renew that license at the Manchester DMV. Records checks ultimately revealed that the defendant had been deported once previously to the Dominican Republic.

            Villar-Arias will be sentenced at 10:00 AM on January 3, 2017, and faces likely deportation after serving his sentence.

            The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alfred Rubega is prosecuting this case.

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