Illegal Immigrant Caught in Montana Receives Prison Time
Carlos Alexis Ponce-Lopez had previously been deported twice.
A Montana district court judge sentenced an illegal immigrant from Honduras to prison time for illegally reentering the United States.
Last week, Carlos Alexis Ponce-Lopez received 99 days in prison after pleading guilty to one count of illegal reentry in April. As part of his sentence, the foreign national will also receive one year of supervised release.
Ponce-Lopez had previously been removed from the United States twice. The first time occurred in 2011. Three years later, he returned in March 2014, but was caught again and removed five months later.
On February 21, the Montana Highway Patrol conducted a traffic stop near Billings. Ponce-Lopez was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over by law enforcement.
According to Cowboy State Daily, the other people in the car included the driver, Kristin Louise Mitchell, and two passengers, Kledyber Gabriel Diaz-Rivas and Porfirio Alexander Suarez.
Mitchell received a citation, and the three passengers were released. The car Mitchell drove was a Hyundai Sonata with fake temporary Texas tags.
Four days later, after the stop, a Border Patrol agent in Shelby ran a vehicle registration check on a temporary Montana tag. The check found the tag belonged to the same Hyundai Sonata Mitchell owned, the outlet reported.
Mitchell has previous convictions for alien smuggling, Cowboy State Daily said. In May 2006, she escaped from a federal facility, but eventually got caught a few months later trying to reenter America.
Due to her past criminal history, law enforcement began surveilling Mitchell’s Shelby residence, located approximately an hour outside of Great Falls.
The outlet reported law enforcement saw Mitchell driving the Hyundai Sonata with Diaz-Rivas and Alexander Suarez, both of whom are from Venezuela, on March 4.
Law enforcement pulled over Mitchell for failing to stop. While talking to police, Mitchell answered for the two Venezuelans and said they were “political asylees.”
After these three people were taken into custody, law enforcement continued to surveil Mitchell’s residence.
At this location, Border Patrol agents located Ponce-Lopez.
As the agents approached the home, Ponce-Lopez walked outside the house. One of the agents called out, “Carlos Ponce?” He answered, “Yes, that’s me.”
After this, Border Patrol did an immigration inspection. The native-Honduran said he had been removed and had reentered America illegally. Additionally, he stated that he did not have the necessary documents to reside in the country.
Records indicate Ponce-Lopez never applied for readmission to the United States.
Regarding Diaz-Rivas and Alexander Suarez, both of their cases were dismissed.
As for Mitchell, who is an American citizen, she has been charged with attempting to harbor illegal aliens. She faces five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
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Zachery Schmidt is the founder of The Montana Chronicles. If you have any tips, please send them to montanachronicles@proton.me.