SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Field Operations officers arrested yesterday a previously deported felon before boarding a flight to New York.
Yurlis Raymundo Fernandez-Maldonado, 45, a citizen of the Dominican Republic appeared yesterday afternoon before US District court Magistrate Judge Camille Velez Rive, facing charges for re-entering after a previous removal for a prior aggravated conviction.
“CBP officers are watchful to find criminals who attempt to elude detection and bypass our laws,” stated Marcelino Borges, Director of Field Operations for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Mr. Fernandez-Maldonado was found at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico, attempting to board a flight bound to the JFK Airport in New York. He presented CBP Officers a Dominican Republic passport containing no visa or document for proof of authorized presence in the US.
During secondary inspection, a biometric database revealed that Mr. Fernandez-Maldonado served time in 2011 at the Puerto Rico Department of Correction Bayamon Center for the Possession and Use of an Edge Weapons and for Aggravated Illegal Appropriation. In 2012, he was convicted for Attempt or Conspiracy to Possess a Controlled Substance, after which he was deported in 2013.
He admitted that he reentered illegally into Puerto Rico in October 2015.
CBP field operations officers presented the case to Assistant US Attorney John Mathews who accepted the case for prosecution.
If convicted, Mr. Fernandez-Maldonado could be fined, imprisoned not more than 20 years or both.
All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.