SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Tomi Moscat-Lara, age 44, a native and citizen of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 18 months’ imprisonment, for illegally reentering the United States after being previously removed following conviction for a felony offense.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, in April of 2013, while residing in this country without legal status, Moscat-Lara was convicted of a cocaine trafficking offense. After serving a 12-to-24-month county prison sentence for that offense, Moscat-Lara was deported. Sometime thereafter, Moscat-Lara unlawfully reentered the United States, and on January 14, 2021, he was arrested in Luzerne County and charged with cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. Following a guilty plea in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas to those charges, he was sentenced to a three-to-six-year imprisonment term.
Lara was charged with the illegal reentry offense in federal court. He pleaded guilty to that offense. Following the conclusion of his 18-month federal sentence imposed by Judge Mannion, Muscat-Lara will face deportation.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Assistant United States Attorney Jeffery St John prosecuted the case.
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