Nine people charged with immigration offenses in metro-east, feds say
Nine persons have been charged in federal court with immigration-related offenses in Southern Illinois in the past two months, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
The arrests are part of the Trump administration's priority to enforce immigration laws, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft of the Southern District of Illinois.
'The only person who wasn't a prior offender was indicted for a firearms offense,' Weinhoeft said in a statement. 'These charges show our commitment to prioritizing repeat offenders and those who threaten public safety.'
The following nine persons face federal immigration charges:
▪ Josue Lopez-Serrano, 35, a Mexican national, was charged with one count of illegal reentry after deportation in Monroe County.
A complaint filed in federal court records states Lopez-Serrano had been 'removed from the United States to Mexico' three times. Lopez-Serrano had been arrested in Waterloo after an altercation at a bar that resulted in him being charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault. Federal agents matched his fingerprints and arrested him following a hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse on Feb. 11.
'When asked, Lopez-Serrano admitted being born in Mexico and not possessing proper documents to be legally present in the United States,' according to court records.
Lopez-Serrano is being held at the Kay County Detention Center in Newkirk, Oklahoma.
▪ Angel Carmona-Perez, 44, a Mexican national, is facing one count of illegal reentry after deportation in Madison County.
According to a federal complaint, Carmona-Perez was arrested in Madison County on a warrant for failure to appear in court on a pending domestic battery charge. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents matched his fingerprints to identify him.
Carmona-Perez was arrested by an immigration officer on Feb. 5 during a traffic stop and is currently being held in Chase County, Kansas.
▪ Luis Morocho-Minga, 42, an Ecuadorian national, was indicted on Feb. 20 on one count of illegal alien in possession of a firearm in St. Clair County.
Morocho-Minga is being held in St. Clair County pending a court hearing on the firearms charge. According to an order of detention, Morocho-Minga has lived in the area for almost 20 years and has been 'steadily employed' at Joe's Pizza in Fairview Heights, the owner of which 'offered to serve as a third-party surety' for him.
Morocho-Minga is next scheduled to appear in St. Clair County Court on June 4, according to circuit clerk records.
▪ Gaspar Lux-Lopez, 30, a Guatemalan national, was charged with one count of illegal reentry after deportation in Madison County.
Lux-Lopez was found to have reentered the U.S. following a traffic stop in Granite City. According to federal court records, ICE agents were conducting surveillance at another Granite City address on the same day and saw Lux-Lopez exit the home and leave in a vehicle.
When officers stopped him, he presented them with identification issued in Guatemala. Officers also discovered he had pending domestic violence and assault charges against him in Ohio. He had previously been deported in June 2019.
Lux-Lopez is being held in Clay County, Indiana.
▪ Pedro Ramos-Garcia, 36, a Guatemalan national, was indicted on Feb. 20 with one count of illegal reentry after deportation in Effingham County.
Ramos-Garcia was arrested by federal agents on Feb. 10 outside the Effingham County Jail, according to federal court records. The records state he had been arrested on Feb. 6 by the Effingham County Sheriff's Office on charges of driving under the influence and failure to appear on domestic battery charge.
Ramos-Garcia previously had twice been removed to Guatemala, most recently on Nov. 11, 2019, according to court records.
▪ Andres Jimenez-Santiago, 26, a Mexican national, was indicted on March 4 on a charge of illegal reentry after deportation in St. Clair County. Jimenez-Santiago was arrested on Feb. 26 at the St. Clair County courthouse by federal agents, according to a complaint filed in federal court records.
A federal agent found Jimenez-Santiago had previously been arrested in Belleville in September by reviewing jail records and that he had been previously removed to Mexico from Laredo, Texas, in 2019, according to court records.
Jimenez-Santiago was charged with driving under the influence and aggravated battery to a police officer on Sept. 17, the federal complaint states. The records state Jimenez-Santiago was being held in the St. Clair County Jail but online records for the jail Thursday did not include his name.
▪ Jose Ariza-Angula, 37, a Mexican national, was indicted on March 18 on one count of illegal reentry after deportation in St. Clair County.
A federal complaint states Ariza-Angula had been removed from California to Mexico in 2013 and had been arrested by Florissant, Missouri, police on a charge of 'stealing' in 2022. Details of the Missouri case were not listed in the federal complaint.
On March 13, federal agents arrested Ariza-Angula in O'Fallon after seeing him leave a residence in a work truck at around 6:45 a.m., according to the complaint. A vehicle stop was conducted and Ariza-Angula was arrested at 6:47 a.m.
During the week of March 3, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers along with FBI agents conducted surveillance at Ariza-Angula's address prior to making the arrest on March 13.
Ariza-Angula was in the U.S. Marshals Service custody in the Monroe County Jail, according to the federal complaint.
▪ Erick Roman-Roman, 49, a Mexican national, was indicted on March 18 on one count of illegal reentry after deportation in St. Clair County.
Roman-Roman was arrested on April 11 in Carlyle on the federal immigration charge, according to a complaint filed in federal court. He was remanded to the custody of federal officials on April 14.
Roman-Roman has been 'removed on two prior occasions from the United States to Mexico' — most recently on July 12, 2019, at Laredo, according to the complaint.
On Nov. 8, he was arrested in O'Fallon on a driving under the influence charge. This case is pending in St. Clair County court.
▪ Mayorie Fernandez-Ormeno, 44, a Chilean national, faces one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud, attempted access device fraud and illegal entry after deportation in Madison County and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
A superseding indictment was filed against her on Feb. 20 and she was remanded to federal authorities on March 20.
The indictment alleges that Fernandez-Ormeno and a co-defendant who is also from Chile would go to stores and one would act as lookout and another would steal credit cards out of shoppers' bags when they weren't looking.
They would then go to another store and use the stolen credit cards.
This scheme occurred between February 2024 and April 2024. In one case, they used a stolen card to buy about $2,700 in goods and in another case they purchased about $2,500 in goods, according to the indictment.
The indictment states Fernandez-Ormeno had previously been removed from the United States in 2023.
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