NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

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

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

APRIL 22, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JURY CONVICTS SALVADORAN FELON OF

ILLEGALLY REENTERING THE U.S.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Salvadoran national with a prior conviction for carjacking was convicted by a federal jury today of illegally reentering the United States.

Jose Mauricio Bonilla-Siciliano, 36, a citizen of El Salvador residing in Kansas City, Mo., was found guilty of the charge contained in a Sept. 14, 2006, federal indictment.

Bonilla-Siciliano was deported from the United States in 2003 after serving a state prison sentence in California for a 1994 conviction for carjacking. Bonilla-Siciliano illegally reentered the United States in 2004. He was arrested by Kansas City police officers on Aug. 24, 2006.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated about 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, ending a trial that began Monday, April 21, 2008.

Under federal statutes, Bonilla-Siciliano could be subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Pansing Brown. It was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

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