ANNANDALE, VA — An Annandale man accused of illegally reentering the United States after being deported four times remains in federal custody after Fairfax County prosecutors dropped a felony strangulation charge against him, according to state and federal court records.
Charlie Lazo Fuentes, who was charged with illegal reentry in August, was arrested on a federal warrant Oct. 21 in Fairfax, one day after a preliminary hearing in Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court ended with the state strangulation charge being discontinued by prosecutors.
Federal court records show that Lazo Fuentes appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick on Oct. 21. Prosecutors requested that he be detained pending further proceedings, and the judge granted temporary detention, placing him in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Fairfax County court case stemmed from Lazo Fuentes' July 5 arrest on a felony strangulation charge involving an alleged injury, according to Virginia court records.
The charge, filed July 6 under Virginia Code Section 18.2-51.6, was classified as a Class 6 felony.
After several earlier proceedings were continued, a preliminary hearing was held Oct. 20 in Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
The court's online case information system lists the hearing result as final and the disposition as "nolle prosequi," indicating that prosecutors chose not to pursue the charge.
The record does not explain why the charge was dropped or whether prosecutors intend to pursue it again.
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The July arrest also involved a separate misdemeanor charge of assault and battery of a family member. According to Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court records, that charge received a deferred disposition following an Oct. 20 hearing. The case remains unresolved, with a dispositional hearing scheduled for Aug. 12, 2027. The court record does not list a conviction or final disposition.
The federal immigration case began Aug. 31, when prosecutors filed a criminal complaint accusing Lazo Fuentes, a Mexican citizen, of being in the United States without authorization following multiple previous deportations.
According to an affidavit filed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer, federal investigators determined that Lazo Fuentes had been removed from the United States four times.
Those removals occurred April 2, 2012, near Hidalgo, Texas; April 20, 2012, near Calexico, California; June 15, 2016, near Hidalgo; and Sept. 12, 2016, also near Hidalgo.
Investigators obtained fingerprints from Lazo Fuentes' July 5 arrest by Fairfax County police and compared them with immigration records from his previous deportations.
On Aug. 12, an ICE Homeland Security Investigations forensic laboratory confirmed that the fingerprints matched those associated with his September 2016 removal, according to the affidavit.
The deportation officer also reported finding no evidence that Lazo Fuentes had received authorization from the U.S. attorney general or secretary of homeland security to return to the country.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William B. Porter issued a federal arrest warrant Aug. 31. The warrant was executed Oct. 21 in Fairfax, according to federal court records.
During an Oct. 26 hearing before Porter in Alexandria, Lazo Fuentes waived his preliminary and detention hearings.
Porter signed an order of detention that day, and Lazo Fuentes was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The defendant is represented by Sean Carlton Mitchell of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Alexandria. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alecia Watson is prosecuting the case.
The federal criminal docket, reviewed Wednesday, Nov. 4, lists the case as United States v. Lazo Fuentes, No. 1:26-cr-00211-MSN, before U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff.
As of Nov. 4, the docket showed the illegal reentry complaint and detention proceedings but did not list an indictment, guilty plea, conviction or sentencing.
The federal charge remains pending despite the discontinuation of the separate Fairfax County felony prosecution.
Lazo Fuentes is presumed innocent of the federal charge unless and until proven guilty in court.
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