NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

APRIL15, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEXICAN NATIONAL SENTENCED FOR

ILLEGALLY REENTERING U.S.

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Mexican national was sentenced in federal court today for illegally reentering the United States after having been deported.

            Imelda Melissa Cantu-Barraza, 35, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple this afternoon to four years and nine months in federal prison without parole.

            On Dec. 16, 2009, Cantu-Barraza pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States after previously being convicted of a felony and being deported. Cantu-Barraza has three prior convictions for burglary in state court in Texas and a conviction for illegally entering the United States in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas. She was deported to Mexico in September 2007 but illegally returned to the United States in 2008.

            According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Cantu-Barraza was arrested by a Kansas City police officer for driving under the influence on Sept. 17, 2009. While driving eastbound on Truman Road in the westbound lane of traffic, the memorandum says, Cantu-Barraza almost struck the police officer’s patrol car head-on. The police officer had to take evasive action to avoid a collision with her car.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Porter. It was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

http://www.justice.gov../index.html