Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Bowling Green and Paducah, KY – Federal grand juries in Bowling Green and Paducah, Kentucky, returned indictments on June 10 and 11, 2025, charging three individuals with illegal reentry after deportation or removal and one individual with use of a false passport.
U.S. Attorney Kyle G. Bumgarner of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud of Homeland Security Investigations, Nashville, and Sam Olson, Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Chicago, U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement made the announcement.
According to the indictments:
Santiago Tehandon-Paneda, age 45, a citizen of Mexico, was charged in Owensboro, Kentucky, with reentry after deportation or removal and false claim to United States citizenship. On or about May 12, 2025, Tehandon-Paneda was an alien found in United States after having been denied admission, excluded, deported, and removed from the United States on or about May 4, 2007, and August 13, 2012. On or about May 15, 2025, Tehandon-Paneda willfully represented himself to be a citizen of the United States. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 13 years in prison. This case is being investigated by HSI, ICE-ERO.
Feliz Morales-Rangel, age 38, a citizen of Mexico, was charged in Bowling Green with reentry after deportation or removal. On or about March 26, 2025, Morales-Rangel was an alien found in United States after having been denied admission, excluded, deported, and removed from the United States on or about March 20, 2008, and May 1, 2010. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. This case is being investigated by HSI, ICE-ERO.
Francisco Campos-Guardian, age 32, a citizen of Mexico, was charged in Paducah with reentry after deportation or removal. On or about May 8, 2025, Campos-Guardian was an alien found in the United States after having been denied admission, excluded, deported, and removed from the United States on or about January 7, 2020. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison. This case is being investigated by HSI, ICE-ERO.
Bogdan Drapac, age 41, a citizen of Romania, was charged in Paducah with use of a false passport. On or about May 14, 2025, Drapac willfully and knowingly used and attempted to use a false, forged, and counterfeited Spanish passport; that is, he presented the passport to law enforcement during a traffic stop to conceal his identity. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. This case is being investigated by HSI, ICE-ERO.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
There is no parole in the federal system.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark J. Yurchisin II, of the U.S. Attorney’s Bowling Green Branch Office, and Raymond McGee, of the U.S. Attorney’s Paducah Branch Office, are prosecuting the cases.
These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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