FAIRFAX, VA — A federal grand jury in Alexandria has indicted a Fairfax County man on a charge of illegally reentering the United States after previously being deported following an aggravated felony conviction.
Edwin Sifredo Galdamez Funes was indicted Aug. 6 on one count of illegal reentry after removal subsequent to an aggravated felony conviction, according to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Prosecutors allege he was found in Alexandria on or about Feb. 7 after having been removed from the United States in January 2021 without obtaining permission to legally reenter the country.
The case began with a criminal complaint filed June 5 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to an affidavit filed by an ICE deportation officer, investigators learned on May 31 that Galdamez Funes was being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center following local charges including fugitive status, providing false identification to law enforcement, driving while intoxicated and failure to appear.
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The affidavit states that fingerprint comparisons identified him as a citizen of El Salvador who had previously been removed from the United States and did not have legal authorization to reenter or remain in the country.
Investigators also reviewed his immigration file, which they said documented five prior removals from the United States in 1998, 2000, 2007, 2014 and 2021.
The affidavit further states that Galdamez Funes was convicted in Los Angeles County, California, on July 16, 1996, of possession for sale of cocaine, an aggravated felony cited as the basis for the enhanced federal illegal reentry charge.
Court records show Galdamez Funes was arrested on the federal complaint in July and made his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge on July 9. A federal public defender was appointed to represent him, and prosecutors successfully sought his detention pending further proceedings. He later waived a preliminary hearing, and a magistrate judge found probable cause and ordered him detained pending action by the grand jury. An arraignment on the indictment is scheduled for Aug. 13 before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria.
An indictment is a formal accusation and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
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