Indian child sex offender arrested after Maryland courts give light sentences, detainer holds ignored: ICE

An Indian national convicted of child sex offenses, but given light sentences, was arrested last month after he was released from a Maryland detention center without any warning to federal immigration authorities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (CBP) said Thursday. 

The unidentified 32-year-old man was arrested March 20 near his home in Ellicott City, 38 miles north of Washington D.C.

“This predator’s presence in our area constituted a significant threat to the children of our Maryland neighborhoods,” said Matthew Elliston, the acting field office director for Baltimore’s ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. “We cannot allow non-citizen sex offenders to roam the streets of our community. ERO Baltimore will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting the most egregious non-citizen offenders.”

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The man entered the U.S. on Dec. 12, 2019, at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, as a non-immigrant visitor. He was arrested by CBP officers on Nov. 14, 2021, while trying to board a Qatar Airlines flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, to Doha, Qatar, ICE said. 

Wanted for child sex offenses

The arrest stemmed from a warrant out of Montgomery County, Maryland child sex offenses, an ICE news release states. He was placed on sex offender parole by the CBP until Nov. 12, 2022, and turned over to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department for extradition to Maryland.

CBP lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Brooklyn, New York. He was subsequently taken into custody by the Montgomery County Police Department, and he was charged with sex abuse of a minor and four counts of sex offense in the third degree.

On Feb. 15, 2022, Maryland’s Howard County Police Department also arrested the Indian citizen and charged him with two counts of sex abuse of a minor, and two counts of sex offense in the third degree.

Another detainer was allegedly placed for him at the Howard County Detention Center, Feb. 16, 2022.

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On Aug. 10 of that year, he was convicted by a Montgomery County court. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sex abuse of a minor charge, but a judge suspended all but 18 months of the sentence. He was also sentenced to 10 years for a charge of sex offense in the third degree, but the judge suspended all 10 years. 

Placed on probation

He was eventually placed on five years of supervised probation.

Nearly two weeks later, the suspect was convicted and sentenced in a Howard County court to another 10-year sentence for a sex offense in the third degree. Just like in Montgomery County, the Howard County court judge suspended all but 18 months of the sentence, ICE said. 

An immigration detainer hold was lodged with the Howard County Detention Center on Feb. 1, and the suspect was issued a notice on Feb. 25, to appear before an immigration judge.

“The Howard County Detention Center refused to honor ERO Baltimore’s immigration detainer and released the Indian sex offender from custody March 20,” an ICE statement said. “Later that day, deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program arrested him in Ellicott City.”

A federal immigration judge ordered the man to be deported to India.