Was convicted in state court while in the United States illegally of assault causing bodily injury, operating a motor vehicle without owner’s consent and eluding police
A man who illegally returned to the United States after being deported was sentenced today to ten months in federal prison.
Pablo Romero-Mata, age 27, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States and residing in Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 9, 2019, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry into the United States.
At the guilty plea, Romero-Mata admitted he had previously been deported from the United States in November 2015 and illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government. Ventura-Diaz was found by immigration agents after he was charged in Black Hawk County, Iowa, with assault causing bodily injury, operating a motor vehicle without owner’s consent, and eluding. On the eluding conviction, defendant led law enforcement on a high speed chase by driving 70 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone and lost control of the vehicle causing it to spin, roll and collide with a house on Dec. 30, 2018. Romero-Mata was convicted of these offenses in Iowa District Court in March 2019.
Romero-Mata also has a conviction in Black Hawk County, Iowa, in March 2019 for providing false identification information to police in February 2018, and a conviction in Jasper County, Iowa, in March 2019 for possession of drug paraphernalia in August 2018. Romero-Mata was also convicted in Texas for possession of a controlled substance in August 2014 and possession of marijuana in April 2015.
Romero-Mata was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court C.J. Williams. Ventura-Diaz was sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a one-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Romero-Mata is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 19-CR-2020.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
