A Colombian man, identified as Fabian Lopez Mejia, 31, has been sentenced to a term of six months in federal prison for the crime of illegally reentering the United States after deportation, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Following his prison term, Lopez Mejia will be subject to one year of supervised release. This comes on the back of a guilty plea entered by Lopez Mejia in September 2024 to a single count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien.
The case against Lopez Mejia was resolved yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper, who decided to impose a six-month imprisonment. This sentence follows an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in June 2024. Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, along with Todd M. Lyons, the Field Office Director for Boston's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, made the formal announcement of the sentencing.
Previously, in November 2019, Lopez Mejia was removed from the United States. However, it is known that he made his way back to the country at some point after this removal. Federal authorities became to quickly notice of his presence again in the U.S. while he was serving a state prison sentence. His state charges included possession with intent to distribute a Class B substance and forgery/misuse of an RMV document, for which he pleaded guilty in October 2023 in Suffolk Superior Court, according to a statement on the U.S. Attorney's Office website.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Reynolds III of the Major Crimes Unit led the prosecution in this case. This case shows that individuals can face serious consequences for immigration violations, even after serving time for unrelated state crimes.
