Child molester who asked to be deported gets six years in prison

By BRANDON COUTRE - bcoutre@nwherald.com

WOODSTOCK - A Cary man whose sexual abuse charges captured national media attention and riled up anti-immigration supporters after he tried to dodge the charges by being deported back to Mexico pleaded guilty on Thursday to molesting a 4-year-old girl.

Jose Pablo Vallejo, 18, was sentenced to six years in prison, the minimum sentence for the crime, for performing sex acts with the girl in April 2006. A baby-sitter witnessed the abuse and reported it to police, prosecutors said.

Vallejo will be required to serve a little more than four years of his sentence, after time served and good behavior is accounted for. He is likely to be deported after incarceration, prosecutors said.

Vallejo’s attorney, Perri Grimaldi, declined to comment on he case.

The case took the national spotlight in January, when while free on $150,000 bond, Vallejo asked a federal judge to deport him, a request that was granted. He appeared before the federal judge because criminal defendants who are illegal immigrants are typically handed over to federal authorities when they post bond at local jails.

But before he was handed a one-way ticket to Mexico, a representative from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency contacted McHenry County prosecutors to alert them of the pending deportation.

McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather then upped his bond to $750,000 to halt the deportation.

Vallejo’s deportation attempts made many national news outlets, including the Fox News Channel. After reports surfaced in the local media, the national cable network camped outside the McHenry County courthouse, where a reporter did live shots on the case throughout the day.

The aggravated criminal sexual assault charge Vallejo pleaded guilty to was punishable by up to 30 years in prison. In exchange for his plea Thursday, prosecutors dropped a charge of unlawful restraint.

Vallejo abused the girl while he was 16-year-old. He was charged as an adult because of the wide age between him and the victim, prosecutors said.


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