Obeth Cardona-Quinonez, age 32, of Fort Wayne, Indiana was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Holly A. Brady for illegal reentry of a removed alien, announced U.S. Attorney Kirsch.

Cardona-Quinonez was sentenced to 30 months in prison and will be deported upon completion of his federal sentence.

According to documents in this case, Cardona-Quinonez, a citizen of Mexico, was convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated (OWI) and providing false information to a law enforcement officer in 2013. Cardona-Quinonez was arrested for a second OWI in 2014. He was thereafter deported to Mexico in 2014. In May 2016, he illegally re-entered the U.S., was found and deported again within two weeks. In July of 2016, he again illegally re-entered the U.S. and in October of 2017, he was arrested for OWI after he drove into a utility pole, ran from the scene of an accident and had a blood alcohol content of double the legal limit in the State of Indiana. In July 2018, he pleaded guilty to the 2017 and the 2014 OWI charges and was deported a third time in August 2018. Cardona-Quinonez returned to the U.S. two months later, in October 2018, without legal authorization, and lived in Fort Wayne until December 2018 when he was charged with driving after having been declared a habitual offender, a charge which was later dismissed.

The case was investigated by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah E. Nokes.