Dominican National Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for Illegal Reentry to the U.S.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Manuel Soto-Pena, 31, a Dominican national who formerly resided in Woonsocket, was sentenced today to 51 months in federal prison, having admitted to the court that he entered the United States illegally on three occasions, twice after having been deported.

Soto-Pena, indicted by a federal grand jury on October 7, 2015, on one count of illegal reentry, pleaded guilty on March 25, 2016, as charged in the indictment.

Manuel Soto-Pena’s sentence, imposed by United States District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith, is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Russell Hott, Acting Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.

According to court records and information presented to the court, Mr. Soto-Pena was first removed from the United States in February 2011, after it was learned that he had entered the country illegally and was using the identity of a U.S. Citizen. He was removed from the country a second time in June 2012, after having reentered the country illegally and subsequently was convicted in Rhode Island state court on a drug trafficking charge.

According to court records and information presented to the court, sometime after being deported in June 2012, Mr. Soto-Pena entered the United States illegally for a third time. He was arrested in Rhode Island in January 2014 and subsequently convicted in state court on a charge of felony domestic assault. On September 23, 2015, after having completed serving a state prison sentence, Mr. Soto-Pena was turned over to the custody of ICE.

The case in U.S. District Court was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zechariah Chafee.

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