Gulfport, Miss. -Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Morales, 39, an illegal alien from Honduras, pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to unlawful reentry by an alien after removal, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, and Mr. Trey Lund, Acting Field Office Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations in New Orleans.
Rodriguez-Morales will be sentenced by Judge Ozerden, on July 25, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. He faces a potential maximum of 2 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He also faces being removed from the United States following the completion of any prison sentence.
On Feb. 3, 2019, a Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on Rodriguez-Morales’ vehicle for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle displaying emergency lights. Rodriguez-Morales was arrested for that offense and for driving without a license. He was convicted of both misdemeanor offenses in Hancock County. Hancock County officials notified Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).
On February 6, 2019, an ERO Deportation Officer interviewed Rodriguez-Morales who confessed that he is an illegal alien from Honduras, and was later positively identified via a fingerprint scan. Rodriguez-Morales had been physically removed from the United States on multiple occasions pursuant to a lawful removal order & did not have permission to reenter. Records indicate that, beginning in 2001, Rodriguez-Morales was removed from the United States on three different occasions, before reentering the United States illegally on this most recent occasion.
U.S. Attorney Hurst praised the cooperation exhibited by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Enforcement Removal Operations, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris is the prosecutor on the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
