A Mexican national with a prior aggravated felony on his record, Ruben Tinoco-Jaimes, is back in the hot seat after being transferred to federal custody in Austin on charges linked to his alleged illegal re-entry into the United States, as first reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.
Originally discovered in Travis County jail on October 24, 2024, Tinoco-Jaimes was seized by federal authorities last Friday and is staring down the barrel of up to a decade in federal prison if convicted for re-entering the country after his deportation that followed a 37-month sentence for cocaine possession back in December 2017.
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza announced Ruben Tinoco-Jaimes’s transfer to federal custody, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement now leading the investigation while Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Harding spearheads the prosecution.
"A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," stated Esparza, conscious of the legal process yet setting the stage for what the future might hold for Tinoco-Jaimes, a sentencing decision that will rest in the hands of a federal district court judge who will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines among other statutory factors, as per U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.
