Honduran man sentenced in Bangor

BANGOR – A Honduran man with a lengthy criminal record in the United States was sentenced to 96 months in prison Thursday after being convicted of two counts: re-entry into the United States after deportation subsequent to conviction for an aggravated felony, and fraud and misuse of an employment authorization card.

Wuilmer Hernandez-Fuentes, 28, was ordered to complete three years of supervised release following his prison term. He will be turned over to immigration authorities when released from prison.

The sentencing took place at U.S. District Court in Bangor. U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal presided.

In court, Hernandez-Fuentes took exception to a presentence report and said officials not only had his name wrong but wrongly attributed several felony convictions to him, among other complaints.

In Florida, he reportedly was convicted of assaulting a police officer and on charges related to stabbing a person in the back, according to information brought out at the hearing.

Speaking in Spanish, Hernandez-Fuentes said through an interpreter that his real name is Lorenzo Acosta-Hernandez. He denied using an alias, denied entering this country illegally and denied being deported in 1997. He denied the Florida convictions and denied returning to Honduras from Aroostook County on at least one occasion.

In reality, he has entered the United States on at least 11 occasions, according to information brought out in court. He was arrested last October in Aroostook County, where he worked as a seasonal laborer, on a second count of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. His blood alcohol level was reported at 0.24, three times the legal limit, according to information relayed in court.

A bench trial last spring resulted in the re-entry after deportation and fraud convictions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James McCarthy, who prosecuted the case for the government, termed the matter an “unusual, peculiar and difficult” case. The government usually recommends sentences at the low end of the guideline range for illegal aliens and other cases of this nature because of mitigating circumstances.

“In this case, there doesn’t appear to be anything to mitigate,” McCarthy said before recommending the judge impose the highest-possible prison sentence of 97 months. At his trial, Hernandez-Fuentes “lied about important and unimportant things.” He has never acknowledged guilt or responsibility for the crimes, according to McCarthy.

In levying sentence, the judge declared Hernandez-Fuentes had perjured himself in most of the court hearings he held on his case and “flaunted” the rights he holds in this country. If he is deported, Hernandez-Fuentes can return to this country only with permission of the attorney general.