Mexican Native Sentenced on Illegal Reentry Charge

ROANOKE, VIRGINIA – United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced today the sentencing of a man who previously pled guilty in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke to illegally reentering the United States after being previously deported.

Leobardo Antonio-Martinez, a.k.a. “Martin Hernandez Cruz,” and “Jose Antonio Francisco,” 33, of Mexico, previously pled guilty to one count of illegally reentering the United States after being previously deported. Last week in District Court, Antonio-Martinez was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release thereafter.  

“This individual has been previously removed from the United States on several occasions. We must be vigilant in enforcing the immigration laws of the United States,” United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said today.

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom III, Antonio-Martinez was arrested by the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office on September 20, 2015 for not having a driver’s license and hit and run. After further review, it was established that the defendant was a native and citizen of Mexico by virtue of birth and had been removed from the United States multiple times, including on June 16, 2009 from Laredo, Texas after being convicted of assault in the first degree in Dorchester County, Maryland and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Antonio-Martinez was again removed on February 24, 2011 from Sasabe, Arizona and again on March 16, 2011 from Calexico, California.

The investigation of the case was conducted by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement Removal Operations.  Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom III prosecuted the case for the United States.