Deportee who returned to U.S. sentenced to 10 years

By Lauren Villagran / Journal Staff Writer - Las Cruces Bureau

Saturday, October 31st, 2015 at 12:05am

A federal judge this week sentenced a Mexican national with an extensive criminal record that goes back nearly three decades to 10 years in prison for re-entering the country illegally.

Authorities had already deported Roman Enrique Delgado-Montoya in February 2014 after an arson conviction in California, where the Veracruz native was living illegally.

Three months later, he was back.

Border Patrol arrested the 54-year-old in May 2014 in Sunland Park, the southern New Mexico border town near Ciudad Juárez, according to a criminal complaint.

Delgado-Montoya has 17 prior criminal convictions and has used at least 39 aliases over the years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico.

His felony convictions date back to 1988 and include multiple burglaries, vehicle theft, cocaine distribution, narcotics possession, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, receiving stolen property, arson and illegal entry into the U.S.

When immigrants re-enter the country illegally, the crime is a felony, whether or not they possess a prior criminal record.

Many of those immigrants who file into U.S. District Court in Las Cruces by the dozens each week receive sentences of “time served” after having spent a month or two in jail awaiting a hearing. Then, they are deported.

U.S. Judge Kenneth Gonzales sentenced Delgado-Montoya to 120 months in prison based in part on his lengthy criminal record, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The U.S. Attorney’s branch office in Las Cruces prosecuted the case as part of an anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution.

The initiative directs law enforcement to go after violent or repeat criminals for federal prosecution and, in the case of people in the country illegally, deportation.

http://www.abqjournal.com/668447/new...-10-years.html