Illegal Alien Pleads Guilty to Immigration and Gun Charges

United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces that Jose Luis Alonso DeLeon has pled guilty to an indictment charging him with possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, a violation of 18 USC Section 922(g), which carries a maximum penalty of up to ten years imprisonment and three years of supervised release; and illegal reentry of a removed alien, which carries a maximum penalty of up to two years imprisonment and one year of supervised release. 

 DeLeon is scheduled to be sentenced before United States District Judge William Steele on September 21, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. 

 As part of the factual resume for the guilty plea, the United States established that on March 25, 2018, officers of the Fairhope, Alabama Police Department encountered Jose Luis Alonso DeLeon at the laundromat located at 139 Baldwin Square Shopping Center in Fairhope.  Officers were in the area looking for a maroon truck that had just struck and killed a bicyclist moments before.
 
 DeLeon was still sitting behind the steering wheel in the truck.  The officer located a Mexican driver’s license in DeLeon’s pocket. 

 Corporal Rada of the FPD observed a firearm lying in plain view on the front passenger floorboard of the truck.  Corporal Rada recovered the firearm and identified it as a Glock model 26 9mm pistol.   

As part of the Court proceedings, DeLeon admitted that he is a citizen of Mexico and that he was in the United States without permission.  Investigation revealed that on March 25, 2014, he was found in the United States and was ordered removed.  He departed on March 27, 2014 from Laredo, Texas Port of Entry.  He had also been encountered in the United States by the Border Patrol on May 5, 1999; February 28, 2000; March 19, 2000; March 24, 2014; March 25, 2014; and April 24, 2014.

 After the April 24, 2014 encounter he was charged with violating Title 8 U.S.C. 1325, entry without inspection.  He pled guilty and served 30 days imprisonment.   

 Although these charges arose on the same date as DeLeon’s pending charges with District Attorney Bob Wilters in Baldwin County, they are separate from the Alabama state charges of manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.  DeLeon is charged in state court with causing the death of Amy Hawkins who was riding her bicycle in the northbound lane of County Road 13 in Fairhope, Alabama on March 25, 2018.  

 This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives; the Fairhope Police Department; and ALEA.  This case is being prosecuted by AUSA Maria E. Murphy.

 A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama at http://www.justice.gov/usao/als/