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Gulfport, Miss. – Cosme Pimental-Armenta, age 39, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to 21 months in prison, the highest guideline sentence available to the judge, for the crime of illegal re-entry by deported alien after a conviction for an aggravated felony, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Joseph Banco, Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector.
Pimental-Armenta pled guilty on October 24, 2017. Upon release from prison, he was ordered to be placed on supervised release for three years. He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $100. Any return to the United States during the period of his supervised release period will constitute a violation of the defendant’s supervised release.
On August 30, 2017, a Border Patrol agent assigned to the South Mississippi Metro Enforcement Team conducted a traffic stop for careless driving on a 2008 Toyota Tundra with a Texas license plate in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. During the stop, Pimental-Armenta handed the agent a Florida driver’s license that identified himself as Danthony Martinez-Rivas. The agent asked Pimental-Armenta if he had ever been arrested and Pimental-Armenta stated that he had not.
The agent questioned Pimental-Armenta as to his citizenship and he told the agent that he was a United States citizen from Puerto Rico. The agent finger-printed him and discovered that he was an illegal alien from Mexico. Records further revealed that Pimental-Armenta had earlier been removed from the United States on July 26, 2004, and had been previously convicted in Orange County, California, of forcible rape on April 5, 2002.
“The President and Attorney General Sessions have made border security and immigration enforcement a priority for our country. We will continue to do our part in making sure Americans are safe by vigorously prosecuting violent criminals like this who blatantly violate our laws,” said U.S. Attorney Hurst.
“As this conviction illustrates, the U.S. Border Patrol New Orleans Sector and the South Mississippi Metro Enforcement Team, through its ongoing integrated enforcement efforts serves as a prime example of our joint commitment to prevent potentially dangerous people from reaching our communities,” said Chief Banco.
U.S. Attorney Hurst praised the diligent work and cooperation exhibited by U.S. Border Patrol agents and the South Mississippi Metro Enforcement Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Golden prosecuted the case.
