LOS ANGELES — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - California, Central), published as received.

          LOS ANGELES – A twice-deported Belizean national who currently is serving a nine-year sentence in a California prison for a domestic violence-related conviction was charged today with one felony count of illegal re-entry into the United States following his deportation.

          Akeem Garnett, 37, a.k.a. “Akeen Dean Garnett” and “Emerson Edmund Hewitt,” whose most recent residence was in Beverly Hills, was named in a one-count federal grand jury indictment that alleges he illegally re-entered the United States.

          According to the indictment, Garnett was deported from the United States on September 1, 2016 and November 16, 2017. He was most-recently found in Los Angeles County on April 9, 2019.

          Garnett is charged with re-entering and remaining in the United States knowingly and voluntarily without having obtained permission from the United States Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security following his deportation.

          Garnett’s criminal history includes a conviction in Los Angeles Superior Court for attempted first-degree residential burglary in 2011, for which he was sentenced to two years in state prison, according to the indictment. In 2012, Garnett was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court of first-degree residential burglary with enhancements for committing the offense while on bail and for the benefit of a street gang, the indictment alleges. He was sentenced to nine years in state prison for that offense, the indictment states.

          Currently, Garnett is incarcerated at North Kern State Prison in Delano after being convicted in July 2019 of corporal injury on a spouse, with an enhancement for personally causing great bodily injury.

          He is expected to be brought to federal court in Los Angeles to face the federal illegal re-entry charge in the coming months.

          An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

          If convicted, Garnett faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

          U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated this case.

          This matter is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Matthew C. Chan of the General Crimes Section.