Illegal Alien Pleads Guilty to Re-Entering U.S. After Being Deported

CONCORD, NH — U.S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice announced on Sept. 21, 2016, that Filipe Villar-Arias, of the Dominican Republic, has pleaded guilty to reentering the United States after having been deported previously, according to a press statement.

Villar-Arias pleaded guilty before United States District Chief Judge Joseph Laplante to an indictment that had been returned by a federal grand jury on July 27, 2016.

According to court filings and statements in court, a New Hampshire State Police Trooper contacted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deportation Officer for assistance in identifying the defendant who was suspected of having previously obtained a New Hampshire driver’s license by presenting fraudulent identification and who was attempting to renew that license at the Manchester DMV. Records checks ultimately revealed that the defendant had been deported once previously to the Dominican Republic.

Villar-Arias will be sentenced in January 2017 and likely deportation after serving his sentence.