CEDAR RAPIDS – A man who illegally returned to the United States after being deported was sentenced today to 18 months in federal prison.
Jorge Matute-Banegas, age 28, a citizen of Honduras illegally present in the United States and residing in Belmond, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 6, 2019, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry into the United States after having been convicted of an aggravated felony.
At the guilty plea, Matute-Banegas admitted he had previously been deported from the United States in June 2011, April 2013 and October 2014 and illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government. Matute-Banegas was found by immigration agents in December 2018 after he was charged in Wright County, Iowa, with driving without a license.
Matute-Banegas has prior convictions in Pinal County, Arizona, in July 2012 for possession of marijuana for sale, an aggravated felony, and in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in October 2014 for illegal reentry into the United States after having been convicted of an aggravated felony.
Matute-Banegas was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Matute-Banegas was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Matute-Banegas 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 Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
