Four foreign nationals, one of whom was arrested by Abington police, sentenced for illegally reentering the U.S. after deportation

United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that four men, one of whom was arrested by Abington police in April 2024, were convicted separately of illegally reentering the United States after prior deportations were sentenced this week.

Eric Gonzalez, aka Jefferson Alexander Huertas Cajamarca, 44, a Colombian national, was sentenced on Thursday, June 5 by United States District Judge Juan R. Sánchez to 12 months and one day in prison for illegal reentry. At the conclusion of his sentence, he again will be removed from the country.

Gonzalez had previously been deported in February 2008, after having been convicted of robbery in New Jersey.

In April 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received an electronic notification that Gonzalez had been arrested by the Abington Township Police Department and charged with theft by unlawful taking and related offenses. ICE officers took Gonzalez into custody in October, following the completion of his term of imprisonment on the state theft conviction. In December, he was charged by federal indictment with illegally reentering the United States and pleaded guilty in February of this year.

Eddy Rondon Salcedo, 34, a Dominican national, was sentenced this morning by United States District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg to time served, approximately five months, for illegal reentry. Having completed his prison sentence, he again will be removed from the country.

In September 2008, Rondon Salcedo entered the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident on a valid visa. In December of 2019, he pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to possession with intent to distribute one kilogram of heroin and fentanyl. Rondon Salcedo was sentenced in March of 2021 to time served and two years of supervised release. Due to the federal conviction on this aggravated felony, Rondon Salcedo was removed from the United States in June 2021.

In December 2024, the defendant was arrested by ICE officers, who had received information that he was back in Philadelphia. In February of this year, Rondon Salcedo was charged by information with illegal reentry and pleaded guilty.

Wilmer Yovani Fuentes-Benitez, 34, a Honduran national, was sentenced by Judge Goldberg on Monday to time served, approximately four months, for illegally reentering the U.S. after multiple previous deportations. Having completed his prison sentence for this latest illegal reentry, he again will be removed from the country.

Fuentes-Benitez had been deported from the United States to Honduras three times prior: in June 2008, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) encountered him at a Philadelphia jail following his arrest for aggravated assault and weapons possession; in June 2010, after ICE encountered him at a Louisiana jail following his arrest for battery on a police officer and resisting arrest; and in May 2022, following his arrest by the United States Border Patrol in Franklin, Vermont, during an alien smuggling operation.

After becoming aware that Fuentes-Benitez was once again unlawfully present in the United States, ICE officers conducted surveillance to confirm his identity and took the defendant into custody in February of this year. He was charged by indictment with illegal reentry that month and pleaded guilty in March.

Ronal Hilario Morantin-Mota, aka Jose Flores Davila, 39, a Dominican national, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro on Monday to time served, approximately three months, for illegally reentering the United States. Having completed his prison sentence, he again will be removed from the country.

Morantin-Mota had been deported in September 2019, following his arrest by Pennsylvania State Police in January of that year on a charge of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Earlier this year, ICE received information that Morantin-Mota may be back in the United States unlawfully. Officers conducted surveillance to confirm his identity and took the defendant into custody in February. In March, he was charged by indictment with illegal reentry and pleaded guilty.

These cases were investigated by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations and are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Everett Witherell, Shayna Gannone, and S. Chandler Harris.

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