SCRANTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that a federal grand jury in Scranton returned an indictment yesterday charging an illegal alien with failure to depart the United States.
According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Euphrem Kios Dohou, age 48, a native and citizen of Benin, West Africa, was charged with allegedly failing to comply with facilitating his departure from the United States after a final order of removal had been issued in September 2015.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Prosecution is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. In this case, Dohou faces up to ten years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
An Indictment or Information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the Grand Jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged Defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pleaded guilty to the charges.
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