Mexicans deported for crimes in S.C. plead guilty to re-entering U.S.
NEWS STAFF • September 3, 2008


COLUMBIA -- Two Mexicans previously deported from the United States after being convicted of crimes in South Carolina have plead guilty to re-entering the country, federal prosecutors announced this morning.


Hector Hernandez-Sanchez, 25, and Eduardo Ortega-Flores, 36, both of Mexico, pled guilty in federal court to illegally re-entering the United States following deportation before United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. Both will be sentenced at a later date.

Hernandez-Sanchez was convicted of auto-breaking in Richland County in 2004 and was twice deported to Mexico in July 2006 and March 2007, prosecutors said. West Columbia police officers arrested him last February on local charges.

Ortega-Flores was deported to Mexico in 2000 after serving two years in prison for drug trafficking, according to prosecutors. Lexington County deputies arrested him at a traffic stop in June, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said both men admitted to re-entering the country months or years before they were caught again.

Hernandez-Sanchez faces a maximum penalty if convicted of 10 years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine. Ortega-Flores faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine.

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