El Salvadoran Immigrant Sentenced to 12 months For Multiple Illegal Reentries into the United States

HARRISONBURG, Va. – A citizen of El Salvador, who was found guilty of carnal knowledge of a 14-year-old girl after illegally reentering the United States on multiple occasions, was sentenced yesterday to 12 months in federal prison.

Leonel Hernandez-Zelaya, 39, previously pled guilty to illegal reentry of a previously removed alien.

According to court documents, Hernandez-Zelaya has shown a disregard for the immigration laws of the United States by repeatedly reentering the country after being legally removed. In September 2007, Hernandez-Zelaya was removed to El Salvador following his arrested for illegally entering the United States without proper authorization. 

Hernandez-Zelaya was again removed from the United States in May 2008.

At some point, Hernandez-Zelaya returned to the United States without authorization and has been living illegally in the Western District of Virginia, and elsewhere, ever since. 

In July 2025, Hernandez-Zelaya was convicted in state court of carnal knowledge of a 14-year-old without force out of Warren County, Virginia. The Warren County Circuit Court sentenced him to five years, with all but five months suspended, and three years’ probation.

According to facts presented at the sentencing hearing, Hernandez-Zelaya victimized a 14-year-old by having sexual intercourse with her on at least three occasions, acts that would not have occurred had Hernandez-Zelaya followed the immigration order of removal and remained in El Salvador.

Robert N. Tracci, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and Ian Kaufman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division, made the announcement.

The case was investigated by The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlene R. Day prosecuted the case for the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.