COLUMBUS, OHIO — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Ohio, Southern), published as received.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury indicted an illegal alien from Mexico for illegally reentering the United States after a prior conviction for drug trafficking.
Samuel Granados-Duarte, 35, was arrested by Columbus police officers in September during a traffic stop.
According to charging documents, Granados-Duarte was removed from the United States in 2018 and 2020. In 1999, on four separate occasions, he illegally entered the United States and was granted a voluntary return to Mexico.
In 2013, the defendant was convicted of heroin trafficking in Fairfield County and sentenced to six years in prison.
Granados-Duarte was charged by criminal complaint last month and has remained in custody since.
Illegally reentering the United States after being convicted of an aggravated felony is a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; and Matthew Putra, Field Office Director, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Detroit Field Office; announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorney Elise A. Stegamat is representing the United States in this case.
An indictment merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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