Child Sex Offender Living In Howard County To Be Deported: ICE

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — A man officials say is a non-immigrant visitor living in Ellicott City who arrived in Virginia in 2019 has been re-arrested in connection to sex crimes committed against children.

Deportation officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Criminal Apprehension Program arrested the 32-year-old near his Howard County home March 20 after he was released from a Maryland detention center without any warning to federal immigration authorities.

The Indian national has not been identified.

“This predator’s presence in our area constituted a significant threat to the children of our Maryland neighborhoods,” said ERO Baltimore Acting Field Office Director Matthew Elliston. “We cannot allow noncitizen sex offenders to roam the streets of our community. ERO Baltimore will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting the most egregious noncitizen offenders.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended him Nov. 14, 2021, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, as he attempted to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Doha, Qatar. He had an active warrant issued by the Montgomery County Police Department for sex abuse of a minor and sex offense in the third degree. CBP granted the sex offender parole until Nov. 12, 2022, and turned him over to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department for extradition to Maryland, according to the ERO.

On that same date, U.S. Customs and Border Protection lodged an immigration detainer against the man with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Brooklyn, New York, according to the ERO.

The Montgomery County Police Department arrested him Nov. 18, 2021, and charged him with sex abuse of a minor and four counts of sex offense in the third degree. The Howard County Police Department arrested him Feb. 15, 2022, and charged him with two counts of sex abuse of a minor, and two counts of sex offense in the third degree, according to the ERO.

The Pacific Enforcement Response Center lodged an immigration detainer against the noncitizen with the Howard County Detention Center Feb. 16, 2022, according to the ERO.

The Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Rockville convicted him Aug. 10, 2022, of sex abuse minor and sex offense third degree. The judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison for the crime of sex abuse of a minor and suspended all but 18 months of the sentence. The court also sentenced him to 10 years for the charge of sex offense in the third degree but suspended all 10 years. He was placed on five years of supervised probation, according to the ERO.

The Circuit Court for Howard County in Ellicott City convicted the noncitizen Aug. 23, 2022, of sex offense in the third degree and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, suspending all but 18 months, according to the ERO.

ERO Baltimore filed an immigration detainer against him with the Howard County Detention Center Feb. 1. On Feb. 25, ERO Baltimore issued him a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge, the agency noted.

But according to ERO Baltimore, the Howard County Detention Center would not honor ERO Baltimore’s immigration detainer and released the man from custody March 20. An immigration detainer is a request from ICE to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody.

Later that day, deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program arrested him in Ellicott City. A federal immigration judge ordered the man to be deported to India, according to the ERO.