A Westford man, who had been previously removed from the United States on no less than eight separate occasions, received a sentence yesterday for the charge of illegal reentry, according to federal court documents in Boston. Pedro Romo-Gonzalez, 42, will not face more time behind bars, with Judge Richard G. Stearns of the U.S. District Court sentencing him to time served, which amounted to approximately six months in prison.
Romo-Gonzalez had admitted to his guilt on Oct. 19, 2023, his illegal reentries spanning a period from April 1998 to July 2010. After each deportation or voluntary return to Mexico, he found a way back across the border without the legal right to reenter. His first run-in with federal authorities came in April 1998 after entering through California, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In December 2009, another brush with the law landed Romo-Gonzalez a conviction in an Arizona state court for solicitation to commit smuggling. His most recent apprehension occurred on June 13, 2023, when Massachusetts authorities, following an arrest on unrelated state charges, alerted federal immigration officials to Romo-Gonzalez's presence in the state.
The case was unveiled by Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, Todd M. Lyons, who is the Field Office Director for Boston's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations, and Westford Police Chief Mark Chambers. Federal prosecutor Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit took on the prosecution duties for this case.
