Source: United States Department of Justice News
RALEIGH, N.C. – The United States Attorney announced that today in federal court, Levi Isidoro Velasco-Hernandez, age 40, born in Mexico and residing in Johnston County, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle to six months in prison following a guilty plea to visa fraud. Moreover, Velasco was judicially ordered to be removed from the U.S. following the sentence he is currently serving in prison for violations of state law.
According to court records, on February 3, 2017, Velasco fraudulently applied for and subsequently obtained an immigrant visa by making materially false statements under oath. During the application process, Velasco claimed that he had never engaged in any kind of sexual contact with any person who was being forced or threatened. This was not true because he had in fact taken indecent liberties with an 11-year-old child. At the time Velasco sought the visa, immigration officials were unaware of his crimes because he had not yet been arrested or charged with them.
However, on March 4, 2021, in the Superior Court of North Carolina in Johnston County, Velasco was convicted of ten counts of indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between 10 and 20 years and ordered to register as a sex offender. According to the indictments to which he pled guilty, Velasco committed the crimes as early as January 1, 2017, which clearly preceded his visa application and thus displayed the falsity of his statements.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division conducted the investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sebastian Kielmanovich and Lori Warlick prosecuted the case.
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:22-cr-00016-1BO(1).
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