Juan Morales, a 49-year-old national of Mexico, has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release, after pleading guilty to illegal reentry of a removed alien after deportation. This marks at least the third federal conviction for illegal reentry for Morales.
According to court documents, Morales’s latest legal entanglement began on November 6, 2024, when he was convicted of operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license.
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A subsequent investigation uncovered that Morales had been previously removed from the United States on two separate occasions, in 2007 and 2018.
Further examination of Morales’s background revealed a significant criminal history. In addition to his two previous federal convictions for illegal reentry, he also has two convictions in Indiana and Illinois for dealing cocaine and methamphetamine.
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“While in the United States unlawfully for a third time, this defendant has repeatedly broken the law, demonstrating time and time again a fundamental lack of respect for this country,” said John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Our office is committed to working with ICE and our other law enforcement partners to ensure criminal defendants like Mr. Morales cannot continue to pose danger to our communities.”
The investigation into this case was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young.
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