Illegal immigrant deported 5 times from US sentenced for third DUI
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Mario Santos-Ochoa, who has been deported five times from the U.S., was sentenced to nine months in jail. (Chesterfield County Jail)
A Mexican native who has been living in the U.S. illegally for 28 years was sentenced to nine months in jail for his third DUI in Virginia.
Mario Santos-Ochoa, 44, was sentenced to nine months in jail on Monday and immigration authorities placed a detainer on him, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. He could be deported again after serving his time.
Santos-Ochoa has four children, ages 9 to 21 years old, who were all born in the U.S., his attorney, Catherine Lawler said. He was deported five times between September 1997 and September 2014.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said Santos-Ochoa “illegally re-entered the United States again at some point thereafter [September 2014].”
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Santos-Ochoa was convicted in federal court in Texas of “re-entering the U.S. after being deported — in 2009, 2011 and 2012 — and sentenced to seven months, 180 days and 15 months, respectively, in federal prison,” court documents stated.
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In November, Santos-Ochoa was pulled over after a Chesterfield County police officer said they had to stop short after he tried to change lanes. Santos-Ochoa’s blood alcohol content was 0.11 percent, 0.3 percent above the legal limit. Two years before the incident, Santos-Ochoa was convicted of his second DUI. He was also convicted three times of “giving a false identity to police.”
“He is a danger to Chesterfield and a danger to the community,” prosecutor Ben Garrison said.
Lawler said her client was a hard worker who had “no prior convictions for drugs or violence.”
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“His record has to do with alcohol and illegal re-entry,” Lawler said.
Chesterfield Circuit Judge Frederick G. Rockwell III sentenced Santos-Ochoa to “five years in prison with all but seven months suspended on the felony third offense DUI charge and fined him $1,000,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. He was also sentenced to “an additional five years with all but two months suspended on the felony identify fraud count.”