Sex offender sentenced for immigration violation
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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A convicted sex offender from Mexico who was charged in connection with an alleged rape at a hotel in South Burlington has been sentenced for illegally entering the United States -- for at least the fifth time.

Ricardo Gonzalez, 33, will spend two years in federal prison and then be deported to Mexico again under a sentence issued Monday at U.S. District Court in Burlington by Chief Judge William Sessions III.

Gonzalez was among three men arrested in 2003 on suspicion of raping a 27-year-old woman at a Dorset Street hotel. Authorities discovered that Gonzalez had a lengthy criminal record that included a conviction for sexual assault on a child younger than 16, and federal prosecutors brought charges alleging Gonzalez re-entered the country after having been deported four times. He was convicted and sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

Gonzalez was released in early 2009 and was deported to Mexico, but less than two months later he was arrested in California, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Burlington. Federal authorities charged him with violating the terms of his supervised release, and he was brought back to Vermont and sentenced to the additional time.


http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/arti ... 40313/1007