Roni Mendez-Escobar, a Guatemalan national, was sentenced to six years and five months in prison on Sept. 16 after being convicted of receipt of child sexual abuse material and illegally re-entering the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Mendez-Escobar was first arrested in October 2025 and Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Oct. 23. Fairfax County authorities released him on Oct. 27 without notifying ICE. He was arrested again on April 22, 2026, after a court appearance.
According to court records, Mendez-Escobar had been deported three times in 2015 before illegally re-entering the country at an unknown date and location. ICE Homeland Security Investigations and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations partnered to investigate him beginning in January 2026.