CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Guatemalan national was sentenced today to credit for time served for an immigration crime, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Obed Zabaleta, 23, previously pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States. He has been in federal custody since November 9, 2016, and was remanded to the Department of Homeland Security for deportation proceedings.
Zabaleta had previously been removed from the United States to his home country of Guatemala on July 24, 2014, and again on Jan. 15, 2015. Zabaleta then illegally reentered the United States and was found in Charleston after a traffic stop by the West Virginia State Police on November 9, 2016, on I-79 near Exit 1. Zabaleta had not formally applied for permission to legally reenter the United States and was not otherwise in the United States legally.
The Department of Homeland Security conducted the investigation, with assistance from the West Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes is in charge of the prosecution. United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston imposed the sentence.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
