PORTLAND — A Honduran national living in Auburn pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to illegally entering the country after he was deported.
Santos Roman Pena Matute Androscoggin County Jail
Santos Roman Pena Matute, 28, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for the felony, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen told the defendant in U.S. District Court.
According to an affidavit written by Department of Homeland Security Deportation Officer Lloyd E. Gifford, Matute had been arrested on Jan. 19 by Auburn Police Department and taken to Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
Matute had been charged with domestic violence assault.
On Jan. 20, the Pacific Enforcement Response Center lodged an immigration detainer for Matute.
Through research, Gifford discovered that Matute had been deported back to Honduras twice from Texas, once in 2016 and again in 2017. Matute also had been deported from Arizona in 2018 and 2019, Gifford wrote.
Matute has been convicted twice in federal court, once for illegal re-entry into the United States and once for attempted illegal entry, Gifford wrote.
He served more than seven months in jail for those convictions, according to court records.
Matute came into this country without consent of the U.S. Attorney General nor Homeland Security, Torresen said Thursday.
She accepted Matute’s plea and ordered that he continue to be held at Cumberland County Jail.
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