Sanchez-Rojas

JEFF REINITZ 6 hrs ago

WATERLOO – A Waterloo man who was removed from the country five times and threatened to shoot federal agents when he was arrested in April has pleaded guilty to immigration charges.

Manuel Sanchez-Rojas, 46, pleaded to illegal reentry June 2 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

A native of Zacatecas, Mexico, Sanchez first entered the United States in June 1986 and has a history of crimes in California and Illinois before he came to Iowa, according to court records.

In 1991, he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and felony burglary in California. He was first deported in November 1992 after he was arrested for domestic battery in Palatine, Ill., court records state.

He illegally returned to the U.S. less than a month later, records state, and made his way back to Illinois, where he was convicted of felony burglary in Cook County in May 1994 and sentenced to jail. Then in 1995, he was convicted of two counts of felony burglary in Los Angeles County, Calif., and sentenced to prison. He was deported in May 1997.

Immigration officials then found him in the Calipatria State Prison in California in January 2000. He was removed to Mexico 13 days later.

Sanchez apparently reentered the U.S. in October 2001 and was found during a February 2004 traffic stop in Kansas. He was removed again that same month.

He returned to the states in December 2004 and remained in the country for a year before Missouri authorities arrested him at the scene of an ice methamphetamine deal in December 2005. Ten days later, he was deported to Mexico — his fifth removal. He allegedly returned in 2008.

Sanchez’s next surfaced in the United States on Dec. 13, 2015, when he entered the Kwik Star at 1214 Franklin St. in Waterloo, picked up a six pack of Steel Reserve beer and took it to the store bathroom where he drank it, court records state.

He returned to the store for similar drinking sessions Dec. 16 and Dec. 22. During the last visit, Waterloo police officers were called, and Sanchez was arrested for fifth-degree theft.

After he was released from jail, Sanchez allegedly made his way back to the Kwik Star on Jan. 19 and stole a can of beer, records state. He was charged with trespassing charge and theft charge.

Then on April 13, a loss prevention officer at Wal-Mart on Flammang Drive allegedly caught Sanchez trying to stuff a $74 wifi digital camera down his pants. He was arrested for fifth-degree theft when he left the store.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement picked up Sanchez at the Black Hawk County Jail and took him to Cedar Rapids. During the ride, Sanchez allegedly told the agents “he would be back soon and when he comes back he would shoot both of them,” court records state. He later apologized for the shooting comment, records state.

Illegal re-entry is usually punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but if the court finds he returned after he was convicted of an aggravated felony, the maximum sentence increases to up to 20 years. He faces immediate removal following his prison sentence.

Sentencing will be at a later date.

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