The U-S Attorney’s Office for the southern district of Iowa reports a Honduran man, 39-year old Carlos Alberto Ramirez Melgar, was sentenced to a little under four and one-half years in prison for his illegal reentry into the U-S. In addition to the 57 month sentence, District Court Judge John A. Jarvey also sentenced Melgar to three years of supervised release following his imprisonment, and imposed a $100.00 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund. Melgar remains detained in the custody of the United States Marshal pending designation of the Bureau of Prisons facility at which he will serve his term of imprisonment. Melgar is subject to deportation following completion of his federal prison sentence.

On June 30th, Melgar appeared before the Federal Court in Council Bluffs and entered a guilty plea to the charge of illegal reentry into the United States of America following deportation or removal. The illegal reentry charge arises from a March 6th arrest of Melgar
in Council Bluffs, on a State of Iowa charge of forgery. He was subsequently found to be illegally in the United States of America, having been previously removed from this country in December of 2006. Melgar was removed from this country following his conviction and
imprisonment on a charge of retaliation against a Texas law enforcement officer in a jail in which Melgar was serving a sentence for aggravated assault.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Police Department and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the United States Department of Homeland Security, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.