Accused rapist deported before facing indictment and trial (The Patriot Ledger)

Accused rapist deported before facing indictment and trial
Illegal immigrant makes bail; feds send him home to Guatemala

By Allison Manning
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Jan 19, 2010 @ 06:22 AM

WEYMOUTH — Defense and prosecution were ready for Genesis Orrego’s arraignment on child rape in superior court. Orrego was charged with molesting a 10-year-old neighbor his girlfriend often babysat in Weymouth.

But Orrego, who faced charges of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery of a child under 14, wasn’t there. He was in federal custody, and the following week he was deported to his native Guatemala. He had been freed on $10,000 bail on the local charge, turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and they were doing their job – deporting him out of the country.

Norfolk County prosecutors knew Orrego, also identified in court as Genesis Orrego Gonzales, was in the country illegally, and said at his earlier arraignment in district court that ICE had placed a detainer on him. Orrego told police he had been in the U.S. for more than 10 years after walking for four months from Guatemala to Texas.

When he made his $10,000 bail, which prosecutors had requested be $100,000, he was transferred into ICE custody on July 27, according to immigration officials.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office expected him at his arraignment in superior court in Dedham on Sept. 24 after being indicted by a grand jury. Spokesman David Traub said the district attorney’s office was in contact with ICE and filed paperwork to make Orrego available for the Sept. 24 arraignment. They found out that wasn’t the case that day.

“It was his ability to meet the $10,000 bail that put him into ICE custody,” Traub said.

ICE cannot hold a person for another agency, whether they’re awaiting trial or not, spokesman Paula Grenier said.

“Our congressional mandate is to enforce the immigration custody laws on the books on the United States,” Grenier said. “ICE does not have the discretion to hold for another agency.”

Should Orrego come back into the U.S. again, he will have a superior court indictment and default warrant out of Quincy District Court awaiting him. But it’s not a given that he won’t re-enter the country again undetected.

While a local agency can file a request through ICE to have an alien transferred back into state custody, in Orrego’s case there was no state custody for him to be brought back into because he was out on bail.

Prosecutors can argue at arraignment that an immigrant with ties outside the country is a flight risk.

“In this case and other cases, we argue for high cash bail, but we don’t control what is set,” Traub said.