Aggravated felon sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for re-entering US

RALEIGH, N.C. - A Mexican national with multiple felony convictions and seven previous removals was sentenced Wednesday in federal court for re-entering the United States after deportation, subsequent to a conviction for an aggravated felony. The investigation of this case was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Cipriano Diaz-Galiana, also known as "Vicente Diaz-Rosas," 56, a citizen and national of Mexico, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison.

At the time of his arrest by ICE HSI, Diaz-Galiana had, at his residence, seven firearms, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and $10,000 buried on the property. He had also sustained five prior federal convictions for illegal entry, accessory after the fact to murder, false statements in a passport application, carrying a concealed weapon, and drug trafficking.

An indictment filed on June 16, 2010 charged Diaz-Galiana, an alien, with being found in the United States after having previously been excluded, deported, and removed from the United States on many occasions, and not having obtained the express consent of the Attorney General to reapply for admission to the United States, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326.

Diaz-Galiana pled guilty to this charge on Jan. 10.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Diaz-Galiana, an illegal alien, was formally deported from the United States seven times and allowed to voluntarily return to Mexico ten times.

Diaz-Galiana's sentence accounted for his high likelihood of recidivism, substantial underrepresentation of his criminal history category, and dismissed and/or uncharged criminal conduct.