A Guatemalan man who was illegally in the United States while possessing a firearm was sentenced November 8, 2021, in federal court in Sioux City.
On June 16, 2021, Sergio Mendez-Perez, 26, from Guatemala, pled guilty to illegal reentry and alien in possession of a firearm.
Evidence at the hearings showed that on March 17, 2021, Mendez-Perez was arrested in Woodbury County, Iowa after pointing a gun at the home of a former employer in a threatening manner, and then fleeing from law enforcement both in his vehicle and on foot. Mendez-Perez, who was determined to be intoxicated, also resisted arrest. On March 18, 2021, ICE determined that Mendez-Perez was a citizen of Guatemala, and had been removed from the United States on one occasion after a conviction for presenting a false document to officials.
Sentencing was held before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Mendez-Perez remains in custody of the United States Marshal until he can be transported to a federal prison. Mendez-Perez was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment for both counts to be served concurrently and must serve 3 years of supervised release following imprisonment. He must also pay a mandatory special assessment of $200.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick T. Greenwood and was investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Sioux City Police Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-4026.
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