Illegal alien from Honduras sentenced to 15 months in prison for re-entering the United States five times

LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced today that Selvin Ponce-Hernandez, 28, of Honduras was sentenced to a year and three months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. for illegally re-entering the country for a fifth time.

Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s deputies arrested Ponce-Hernandez on August 9, 2018 for domestic abuse battery, possession of a stolen firearm and resisting an officer.  The defendant’s wife reported the battery and deputies found him hiding in the closet of an abandoned apartment.  Ponce-Hernandez was previously removed from the United States four times - November 2008, December 2009, January 2012 and October 2015.  He also has two previous criminal convictions.  He was convicted in August of 2008 of criminal mischief in Houston Texas and in October 2009 in the Southern District of Texas for illegal re-entry of a removed alien.  He pleaded guilty on December 20, 2018.

Homeland Security Investigations, the ATF and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Ayo prosecuted the case.