Manatee County man sentenced to prison after 3 deportations, prosecutors say
An arrest in Manatee County led to a federal prison sentence for a Honduran man who illegally reentered the United States after three deportations, according to prosecutors.
A federal judge sentenced 39-year-old Edwin Analfi Mejia to 16 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the country, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Immigration authorities say they discovered Mejia’s history of deportation after deputies arrested him in connection with a February 2024 domestic violence investigation in Bradenton.
An attorney representing Mejia did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment.
Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Mejia after he allegedly hit his girlfriend in the face multiple times and choked her until she lost consciousness, violating a no-contact order from a previous domestic violence case, according to an arrest report.
According to court records, Mejia was charged with burglary with assault or battery, domestic battery by strangulation and violation of pretrial release. After the arrest, immigration officials said they determined Mejia had previously been deported from the United States in 2006 and twice in 2014 and returned without permission.
A federal grand jury indicted Mejia in March 2024 on one count of illegal reentry by a deported alien. He pleaded guilty in January and U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara handed down the sentence on April 11 in Tampa, court records show.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, according to a news release.
According to court records, Mejia resolved the Manatee County case in October by pleading no contest to domestic battery by strangulation and violation of pretrial release. Prosecutors dropped a burglary charge and Circuit Judge Frederick Mercurio sentenced Mejia to time served in county jail.
