FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A federal grand jury indicted an Annandale man Thursday on a charge of illegally reentering the United States after being deported following a 2021 federal firearms conviction, according to court records filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Oscar Ernesto Cabezas-Flores, a native and citizen of El Salvador, was charged in a one-count indictment returned Thursday with illegal reentry after removal subsequent to an aggravated felony conviction.
Federal prosecutors said Cabezas-Flores was found in Fairfax County on or about July 29, 2026, despite having been deported to El Salvador on Jan. 12, 2022. Authorities say he had not obtained permission from the U.S. attorney general or the secretary of homeland security to return to the country.
Cabezas-Flores was arrested Aug. 13 and has remained in federal custody following an Aug. 18 detention hearing. His arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 18 at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in Alexandria.
According to a June 25 affidavit filed by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, investigators used social media records, cellphone subscriber information, surveillance and GPS location data to locate Cabezas-Flores in Northern Virginia.
In January 2026, federal investigators obtained records associated with an Instagram account that included a cellphone number and an email address linked to the defendant.
Additional records identified the cellphone subscriber as Oscar Cabezas and listed a Patriot Drive address in Annandale. The phone service began June 6, 2023, approximately 17 months after Cabezas-Flores was deported, according to the affidavit.
Investigators also reviewed previous arrest records showing that Fairfax County authorities had arrested Cabezas-Flores in Annandale in 2020. His address at the time of his 2021 federal arrest was also in Annandale, although at a different residence.
On April 13, 2026, federal agents conducting surveillance at the Patriot Drive apartment complex observed a man leaving the property who appeared to match Cabezas-Flores' photograph from his immigration removal documents, according to the affidavit.
On May 8, a federal judge in Baltimore authorized a search warrant for historical cellphone information and real-time GPS location data associated with the phone number investigators had identified.
The resulting location data placed the device in the Annandale and Falls Church areas, according to court records.
The affidavit states that Cabezas-Flores was convicted Aug. 4, 2021, in the Eastern District of Virginia of possessing a firearm and ammunition while unlawfully present in the United States.
He was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.
Under federal immigration law, that firearms offense qualifies as an aggravated felony, making the prior conviction relevant to the new illegal reentry charge.
Immigration records reviewed by investigators showed that Cabezas-Flores was removed from the United States on Jan. 12, 2022.
According to the affidavit, investigators obtained an Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight manifest listing Cabezas-Flores as a passenger on a removal flight to El Salvador that departed from El Paso, Texas.
The affidavit also states that immigration records contained no evidence that Cabezas-Flores had received authorization to return to the United States following his removal.
Federal prosecutors initially filed a criminal complaint against Cabezas-Flores on June 25, 2026. A magistrate judge issued an arrest warrant the same day and ordered the case sealed until his arrest.
After his Aug. 13 arrest, Cabezas-Flores appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick, who granted the government's request for temporary detention.
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During an Aug. 18 hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis, Cabezas-Flores waived his preliminary hearing and did not contest detention. The judge found probable cause and ordered him to remain in custody.
Prosecutors subsequently requested two extensions of the deadline to obtain an indictment. The second extension, granted Oct. 1, moved the deadline to Nov. 26.
A federal grand jury returned the indictment Thursday, charging Cabezas-Flores with one count of illegal reentry after removal following an aggravated felony conviction.
The case is assigned to Trenga, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Colt Rainwater representing the government. Federal Public Defender Nathaniel Wenstrup represents Cabezas-Flores.
The indictment is an allegation, and Cabezas-Flores is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
His next scheduled court appearance is the Nov. 18 arraignment in
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