CEDAR RAPIDS – A Guatemalan man who illegally reentered the United States and unlawfully possessed ammunition was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison.
Armando Ramiro Garcia-Arenales, age 30, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 2, 2013, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry into the United States after deportation by an aggravated felon and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition by a felon and illegal alien.
The evidence showed that on March 1, 2013, Garcia-Arenales was arrested following a traffic stop by officers of the Waterloo Police Department. A search of Garcia-Arenales’ car uncovered numerous rounds of 9 mm ammunition. Garcia-Arenales had previously been convicted in 2005 in Clayton County, Iowa, of the felony offenses of delivery of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.
On March 13, 2013, officers from the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), determined that Garcia-Arenales had previously been deported in October 2008 and had not received permission to reenter the United States. Garcia-Arenales had been arrested in May 2008 in an immigration enforcement action at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. He was convicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa of use of a fraudulent alien registration card and ordered removed from the United States.
Garcia-Arenales was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Garcia-Arenales was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $200 was imposed. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Garcia-Arenales is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by officers from the Waterloo Police Department, and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
