July 24, 2008

GUATEMALAN MAN SENTENCED FOR IMMIGRATION OFFENSE

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that on July 23, 2008, Juan Raymundo Ortiz, 33, of Guatemala, was sentenced to 8 months in prison for returning to the United States after having been previously deported. United States District Judge J. Garvan Murtha, sitting in Rutland, Vermont, also sentenced Ortiz to two years of supervised release following his prison sentence and ordered him not to re-enter the United States without permission.

According to court documents, on November 8, 2007, Ortiz was stopped at a United States Border Patrol checkpoint on I-91 in White River Junction, Vermont. After an investigation conducted by the United States Border Patrol, it was determined that Ortiz had been previously deported in 2004, following a felony false imprisonment conviction in Wisconsin, and did not have permission to reenter the United States.

The United States Attorney commended the United States Border Patrol for their work on this matter. The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Timothy C. Doherty, Jr. The defendant is represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth Mann.