U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained an Eritrean national who was convicted in 2017 of sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree sex offense and incest in Montgomery County.
The 53-year-old Eritrean is expected to be deported. He has been in the United States for more than 25 years, according to an ICE news release..
He was apprehended in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 14.
“Through his vile actions, this Eritrean national has not only proven to be a threat to the residents of Maryland, but also to his own family,” said Baltimore Enforcement & Removal (ERO) acting Field Office Director Darius Reeves. “
The Eritrean citizen entered the United States lawfully at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in May 1996.
He was arrested by Montgomery County Police in June 2015 and charged with rape second degree, sex offense third degree and sex abuse of minor. In January 2017, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Upper Marlboro convicted him of sexual abuse of a minor: house/family, sexual offense third degree and incest. The court acquitted him of three counts of sexual offense third degree.
He received a sentence of 25 years’ incarceration, with all but 12 suspended. He received a concurrent five-year sentence for incest with all five years suspended, a 10-year sentence for sex offense third degree with all 10 years suspended and a four-year period of supervised probation upon his release.
ERO officials lodged an immigration detainer against him in 2017 while he was serving his sentence at Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown.
He was released to ERO officials in 2019 but couldn’t be deported for eight months due to a medical issued, according to a news release from ICE.
