Dec. 14, 2010

MEXICAN NATIONAL GETS ANOTHER SIX YEARS IN PRISON FOR RETURNING TO U.S. UNLAWFULLY

WICHITA, KAN. – A Mexican citizen living under an assumed identity in Goodland , Kan., has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for coming back to the United States illegally, U.S. Attorney Kansas Barry Grissom announced today.
The man, Mario Quintana-Garcia, 42, had been living in Goodland, Kan., and working using another person’s name for about three months before his arrest there in February 2010. Quintana had just finished a six-year sentence for the same crime – re-entry after deportation – that was prosecuted in U.S. District Court in New Mexico. He then was removed to Mexico in September 2009.

Quintana was sentenced in the Kansas case Monday by U.S. District Judge Eric F. Melgren. He pleaded guilty October 25.
“This man risked another lengthy prison sentence in the United States after just having served six years in federal prison for the same offense,” Grissom said. “Unfortunately, deported aliens frequently return to the United States, often after being convicted of illegal re-entry. When they do that, they face a longer sentence. This is the first time I’ve seen back-to-back six-year prison sentences for illegal re-entry.”

Quintana’s sentence is higher than average because of his criminal history, including convictions for burglary and theft in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. He has been formally removed from the United States at least four times, Grissom said.
Grissom praised the Sherman County, Kan., Sheriff’s Dept., the City of Goodland, the Kansas Highway Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their work on the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson.