MJP –
An illegal migrant charged with raping a child in Massachusetts was released from custody by local authorities — who “ignored” a federal request to detain him, officials said.
Maynor Francisco Hernandez-Rodas, a 38-year-old Guatemalan national, was nabbed by local cops in Lowell, Mass., on June 14 after he allegedly raped the minor, according to immigration officials.
Two weeks after his arrest, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston said it lodged an immigration detainer with Middlesex Superior Court asking to take custody of Hernandez-Rodas in light of his alleged crimes.
The request, though, was ultimately “ignored” by the Middlesex Superior Court, the feds said.
Hernandez-Rodas pleaded not guilty to aggravated rape of a child with force and rape of a child by force at his arraignment and was sprung from custody last month after posting $10,000 bail, court records show.
Federal agents, however, finally grabbed him on Sept. 20 after he was fitted with a GPS monitor — part of his bail conditions, according to the records and a court spokesperson. He remains in federal custody.
“Maynor Francisco Hernandez-Rodas stands accused of horrific crimes against a Massachusetts child,” ERO Boston acting field office director Patricia Hyde said in a statement.
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“He represents a significant danger to the children of our community that we will not tolerate. ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen threats from our New England neighborhoods.”
A court spokesperson didn’t elaborate on why Hernandez-Rodas’ ICE detainer was ignored.
Details on the alleged rape he is accused of carrying out — including whom he targeted, when and where — also weren’t immediately available.
Hernandez-Rodas has been in the US for more than a decade after sneaking in from Guatemala illegally as a “getaway” — meaning he was able to evade authorities at the border, the feds said.
Officials haven’t yet determined exactly when or where he entered the country.See Also
His rap sheet in the US dates back to at least 2011, when he was convicted of breaching the peace in Bridgeport, Conn., and sentenced to six months in prison.
Then, in 2016, he was convicted in Norwalk, Conn., of the same offense and slapped with a $100 fine.
It was unclear when Hernandez-Rodas made his way to Massachusetts, or if he was living there at the time of the alleged rape.
ERO, which is part of ICE, is tasked with detaining and removing illegal immigrants from the US — including at the order of immigration judges with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Hernandez-Rodas’ case is just the latest instance of an alleged violent migrant being cut loose despite ERO Boston having lodged detainers against them.
Early last month, ERO officials had requested Brazilian national Warley Neto be handed over to them three times after he was convicted of a violent assault on Martha’s Vineyard.
The 24-year-old, who illegally crossed into the US in 2018, ended up being released and allegedly went on to rape a child just months later before he could be nabbed by immigration officials.
Meanwhile, Jorge Luis Castro-Alvarado, 28, was arrested by ERO Boston after the Guatemalan was charged with rape on Aug. 1. In that case, the feds had already requested a detainer for him after he was arrested for a separate charge of assault and battery on a family or household member.
And Cory Alvarez, a 26-year-old from Haiti, was arrested in August on charges for raping a child in Massachusetts. ERO had a detainer lodged against him, too, but he was released on a low bail in March after he was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl.
