Crime Reports

Illegal immigrant sex offender sentenced for third return to U.S.

May 31, 2012 -- 6:44 PM
Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer

An illegal immigrant who was deported on two occasions after he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in Montgomery County, only to return to the area, was sentenced to more than four years in prison as a dangerous criminal alien after being busted for drunk driving.

Dagoberto Tiznado, 33, will be deported for a third time once he finishes his time behind bars, officials said. Tiznado was sentenced in federal court in Maryland to 50 months in prison on a charge of illegally re-entering the United States as a convicted criminal alien.

Calvin McCormick, of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Maryland, said the prosecution of Tiznado was part of ICE's effort to "target criminal aliens who put public safety at risk."

Last month, an illegal immigrant in Prince George's County who had been deported twice was charged with first-degree murder for a 1981 killing in Texas.

But anti-illegal immigration groups say the Tiznado case demonstrates the high costs and poor results of a porous U.S. border and ineffective immigration system.

"It's just a revolving door," said Brad Botwin, of Help Save Maryland.

In 1997, Tiznado, of El Salvador, was convicted in Montgomery County of fondling a 12-year-old girl in the laundry room of his apartment building, then taking her back to his room and trying to have sex with her, court documents said.

He was deported from the United States in 1998, but soon returned to Maryland. He was arrested by ICE agents in Ellicott City, Md. in 2002, and sentenced to nearly four years in prison for illegally re-entering the U.S. He was shipped back to El Salvador in 2005.

It's unclear when he returned to Maryland, but in September 2011, he was pulled over for drunk driving in Ellicott City.

He had no license, no registration for the vehicle he was driving and failed sobriety tests, police said.

Tiznado's true identity was discovered in the Howard County jail as part of the ICE criminal alien program. He was taken into ICE custody.

In jail, fingerprint evidence confirmed that he was a convicted sex offender who had twice been deported.

smccabe@washingtonexaminer.com

Illegal immigrant sex offender sentenced for third return to U.S. | Washington Examiner