Eduardo Lopez-Zamorano, a 35-year-old Mexican national, has been sentenced to 84 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for illegally reentering the United States. The sentence was handed down by United States District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson, according to an announcement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus stated that Lopez-Zamorano has a significant criminal history in the country. In 2022, he was convicted of obstructing the administration of law after attempting to shove a police officer who responded to a domestic dispute in Chambersburg. Following this conviction, he was removed from the U.S. on May 26, 2022.
Lopez-Zamorano returned illegally and was again removed on December 9, 2022, after serving five months for illegal reentry. Despite these removals, he reentered the U.S. once more and accumulated further convictions: criminal mischief and harassment in 2023; driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of 0.25% in 2024; and harassment for punching a female victim in February 2024.
On March 30, 2024, authorities found him in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where he faced assault charges for allegedly holding a knife to the throat of his child’s mother. He did not have legal permission to be in the country at any point during these incidents.
"This case is part of Operation Take Back America," said officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. "Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN)."
Operation Take Back America is described as a nationwide initiative that coordinates resources within the Department of Justice to address illegal immigration and combat transnational criminal organizations and violent crime perpetrators (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline).
The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant United States Attorney Michael Scalera prosecuted the case.
