Dominican Man Sentenced For Repeated Illegal Reentry

BOSTON – A Dominican man was sentenced today for illegally reentering the United States for the third time.

Luis Erasmo Carmona-Avalo, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to 30 months in prison. In October 2013, Carmona-Avalo pleaded guilty to illegal reentry by a deported alien.

At the sentencing hearing, Chief Judge Saris explained that the sentence reflected Carmona-Avalo’s history of immigration and drug crimes. In 1997, Carmona-Avalo, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, first came to the United States. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to heroin distribution in Massachusetts state court and was removed to the Dominican Republic. Carmona-Avalo then reentered the United States. In 2006, he was arrested on drug charges in Massachusetts and was removed to the Dominican Republic again.

In March 2007, Carmona-Avalo reentered the United States. In July 2007, he pleaded guilty to illegal reentry in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and was sentenced to 10 months in prison. In April 2008, he was removed for the third time to the Dominican Republic. In November 2011, having reentered the United States again without permission, Carmona-Avalo was arrested in Massachusetts for drug distribution. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced on the drug charges.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Sean Gallagher, Field Office Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Office in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Landry of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.