Mexican citizen charged for illegal reentry after traffic stop on Route 72

Update Friday, Aug. 29 – Leonardo Mendoza-Zavala was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment on Thursday, Aug. 28, by United States District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson on
a charge of illegal reentry.

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced earlier this month that 44-year-old Leonardo Mendoza-Zavala, a citizen of Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of illegal reentry.

Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus alleges in the indictment that Mendoza-Zavala had been removed from the United States on Jan. 6, 2020, through Laredo, Texas, and reentered without first obtaining legal permission to do so.

Mendoza-Zavala was identified during a June 21 traffic stop by Pennsylvania State Police at Route 72 and Lickdale Road. He was cited at the time for operating a vehicle without a license and operating a vehicle with out-of-service criteria. The traffic citations do not specify what caused troopers to pull Mendoza-Zavala over originally.

According to the federal criminal complaint, PSP made an electronic immigration query on June 21 to ICE offices in York. The complaint states that record checks revealed Mendoza-Zavala had “an extensive criminal history” and had been previously removed from the country.

PSP told ICE that when they had departed the scene, the vehicle was at a parking lot of the Holiday Inn near Exit 90 of I-81 and provided photos of the vehicle. ICE agents then responded to the scene and arrested Mendoza-Zavala without incident.

According to the press release, the case was investigated by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the Harrisburg Bureau of Police.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the case fell under Operation Take Back America, and that the maximum penalty Mendoza-Zavala faces under federal law for this offense is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.

Mendoza-Zavala is currently in federal custody at Pike County Correctional Facility and has pleaded not guilty, according to court records.

If convicted, he would serve any term of imprisonment imposed by the court and would then face deportation following completion of the sentence.

If found guilty, he could also be sentenced to time served and immediately have an ICE detainer lodged against him for deportation proceedings, as occurred earlier this year in a similar incident.