A citizen of Honduras, Jose Mejia-Sarmiento, has been sentenced to 39 months in federal prison for illegal reentry into the United States, fraudulent use of a Social Security number, and aggravated identity theft. The sentence was announced by First Assistant United States Attorney Troy Rivetti.
United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines handed down the sentence. After serving his prison term, Mejia-Sarmiento will be deported to Honduras.
Court records show that Mejia-Sarmiento had previously been deported from the United States three times between 1996 and 2016. One of those removals followed a felony conviction. Authorities discovered that he returned to the Western District of Pennsylvania after these removals.
Between May 2024 and February 2025, Mejia-Sarmiento used another person’s identification and made false statements to the Social Security Administration on four occasions within the same district.
Assistant United States Attorney Maureen Sheehan-Balchon prosecuted the case for the government.
First Assistant United States Attorney Rivetti stated: “First Assistant United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General for the investigation that led to the successful prosecution of Mejia-Sarmiento.”
The prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America, an initiative led by the Department of Justice aimed at eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations while addressing illegal immigration and violent crime.
