HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Two men, Nero Fernandez-Fernando and Ramiro Lopez Chilel, pleaded guilty and were sentenced today for illegally reentering the United States, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Both men were sentenced to credit for time served and transferred to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security for deportation proceedings.
Fernandez-Fernando and Lopez-Chilel were both employees of the Casa Grande Restaurant in Eleanor in Putnam County. Department of Homeland Security investigators encountered both men during the course of an investigation in the Eleanor area. Fernandez-Fernando, a citizen of Mexico, was taken into custody on Dec. 2, 2015. In 2009, he was convicted in Arizona of solicitation to commit smuggling. After this conviction, he was deported to Mexico and he later illegally crossed the border back into the United States. Lopez-Chilel, a citizen of Guatemala, was taken into custody on Oct. 30, 2015. Lopez-Chilel had previously been convicted in Virginia of illegally reentering the United States in 2012, and was subsequently deported. Sometime after his deportation, Lopez-Chilel also illegally reentered the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes handled the prosecutions. Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentences.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
