Opinion
CRIMINAL ACTION 4:22-CR-00029-ALM-AGD
08-04-2023
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JOSE MONTELONGO-ALONSO (1)
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
AILEEN GOLDMAN DURRETT UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Now before the court is the request for revocation of Defendant Jose Montelongo-Alonso's (“Defendant”) supervised release. After the District Judge referred the matter to this court for a report and recommendation, the court conducted a hearing on July 10, 2023, to determine whether Defendant violated his supervised release. Defendant was represented by Mike Pannitto of the Federal Public Defender's Office. The Government was represented by Stevan Buys.
Defendant was sentenced on May 11, 2023, before The Honorable Amos L. Mazzant, III of the Eastern District of Texas after pleading guilty to the offense of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by an Alien Illegally or Unlawfully in the United States. Defendant was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment followed by a 3-year term of supervised release subject to special conditions to include compliance with deportation proceedings, financial disclosure, drug treatment and testing, and a $100.00 special assessment. On May 18, 2023, Defendant completed his term of imprisonment, began service of the supervision term, and was deported from the United States on May 24, 2023.
On June 15, 2023, the United States Probation Officer executed a Petition for Warrant or Summons for Offender Under Supervision (Dkt. #42, Sealed). The Petition asserts that Defendant violated two (2) conditions of supervised release as follows: (1) you must not commit another federal, state, or local crime; and (2) as a condition of supervised release, immediately upon release from confinement, you must be surrendered to a duly authorized immigration official for deportation proceedings in accordance with the established procedures provided by the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101, et seq. If ordered deported, you must remain outside of the United States. In the event you are not deported, or for any reason reenter the country after having been deported, you must comply with all conditions of supervised release, to include reporting to the nearest United States Probation Office within 72 hours of release by immigration officials or re-entry into the country (Dkt. #42, Sealed).
The Petition alleges that Defendant committed the following acts: On or about May 27, 2023, near Laredo, Texas, Defendant was apprehended and charged with Illegally Reentering the United States After Deportation in violation of Title 8 U.S.C. § 1326, after having been previously removed from the United States on May 24, 2023, in Laredo, Texas. On May 30, 2023, a criminal Complaint was filed in the Southern District of Texas Docket No. 5:23mj-01059. A Motion to Dismiss Without Prejudice was filed by the Government on June 14, 2023, and was granted on June 16, 2023. As evidenced by his apprehension on May 27, 2023, near Laredo, Texas, Defendant did not remain outside the United States after he was deported.
Prior to the Government putting on its case at the revocation hearing, Defendant entered a plea of true to allegation 2 of the Petition, and the Government dismissed allegation 1 of the Petition. Having considered the Petition and the plea of true to allegation 2, the court finds that Defendant did violate his conditions of supervised release.
Defendant waived his right to allocute before the District Judge and his right to object to the report and recommendation of this court.
RECOMMENDATION
Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, the court recommends that Defendant's supervised release be revoked and that he be committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for an additional term of imprisonment of nine (9) months, with a twenty-four (24) month term of supervised release to follow.
The court also recommends that Defendant be housed in the Bureau of Prisons facility in Seagoville, if appropriate.