A Mexican national who had been deported nine times pleaded guilty to illegal re-entry to the United States Monday, according to the federal attorney in Sacramento.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner said that Humberto Moran-Torres, 42, of Mexico, pleaded guilty in mid-trial.
Moran-Torres had been deported from the United States on nine prior occasions, according to court records. He also had prior convictions for possession of heroin for sale and second degree assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.
Monday's plea was his third conviction on federal immigration charges, records show.
"Prosecutions like this one are a good example of why we prosecute illegal-re-entry cases," Wagner said in a new release. "Humberto Moran-Torres has prior convictions for both drug trafficking and violent crimes. He had no right to be here, and deportation was apparently not deterring him from illegally returning to this district."
The case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations, Wagner said. Assistant U.S. attorneys Michele Beckwith and Michael Anderson prosecuted the case.
Moran-Torres is scheduled to be sentenced by on July 22. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
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