Source: Office of United States Attorneys
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio announced today new immigration charges in four cases in the District.
Task force agents arrested Alberto Caiceros-Cruz, 40, after observing him leave his residence in Columbus and drive a vehicle with no registration displayed. Caiceros-Cruz is a Mexican national and was most recently removed from the United States in 2022.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Columbus indicted an El Salvadoran national with illegally reentering the United States after being convicted of sex offenses and a Honduran national with illegally possessing firearms.
Carlos Gonzales-Hernandez, 55, was detained in January 2025 following a traffic stop in Madison County. He was then transferred into ICE custody. The defendant had been removed from the United States following a local prison sentence for sex offenses. Gonzales-Hernandez was previously convicted in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas of three counts of gross sexual imposition and received a prison sentence of six years.
Elmer Edison Rodriguez-Guzman, 46, was in a vehicle that was stopped in Cambridge, Ohio, in July 2024 due to no taillights. Law enforcement officials discovered items including a handgun, a double-barrel shotgun and ammunition. Rodriguez-Guzman was arrested in Guernsey County and then transferred into federal custody.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury in Columbus indicted Pedro Marquez, 34, who is also known as Peter Marquez, Pedro Ravas Rivas, Alex Rivas Vasquez and Alex Vasquez Rivas. In 2011, Marquez was convicted of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy and illegally reentering the United States and was sentenced to federal prison. Marquez had conspired with others in the Eastern District of Oklahoma to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Marquez transported, delivered and distributed the drugs on behalf of the conspiracy. He was removed from the United States again in 2016 following his term of imprisonment. Law enforcement found and arrested Marquez in Bloomingburg, Ohio, on Feb. 13.
Illegally reentering the United States is a federal crime punishable by up to two years in prison. If the offender has a prior felony conviction (or multiple prior misdemeanor convictions of certain types), the penalty is increased to 10 years in prison, and if the offender has been previously convicted of an aggravated felony, the defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jared Murphey, acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Detroit; and Robert Lynch, Field Office Director, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Detroit Field Office; announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorneys Tyler J. Aagard, Sheila G. Lafferty and David J. Twombly are representing the United States in these cases.
Indictments and criminal complaints merely contain allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
These cases are being prosecuted as part of the Southern District of Ohio Immigration Enforcement Task Force, which dedicates agents, attorneys and other staff to investigating and prosecuting immigration violations.
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