A 27-year-old Mexican citizen has been charged with first-degree rape in Shelby County after returning to the United States illegally. He was previously deported in 2015 for a felony drug trafficking conviction in Alabama.
Amancio Betancourt Martinez, who reportedly resides in Maylene, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Birmingham for illegally re-entering the country via the southern border. His arraignment is set for Thursday, January 10 before Magistrate Judge Herman N. Johnson Jr.
Martinez’s federal indictment came in the wake of his state arrest for rape earlier in December. According to the Shelby County Reporter, the Alabaster Police Department detained the illegal immigrant and charged him with the Class A felony.
Per his arrest warrant, Martinez allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with the juvenile victim “by forcible compulsion” on November 26.
When he was arrested by Alabaster PD, Martinez was already on probation stemming from his 2014 guilty plea in the same county on a felony cocaine trafficking charge. When he entered into a plea agreement on this drug charge, he was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison, but his sentence was split to three years jail time followed by two years of supervised probation. He then received 542 days of jail credit reduced from his prison sentence when he was deported on December 31, 2015.
Through the 2014 plea agreement, two additional cocaine trafficking charges and two unlawful distribution of a controlled substance charges were dropped against Martinez when he pleaded guilty.
Because he was on probation when he was arrested on the rape charge in December, his probation was revoked. This means that the entirety of his original ten-year prison sentence could be reinstated.
Federal authorities became aware of his illegal return to the United States after Alabaster PD contacted the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in November when they began investigating the rape.
Federal court records outline that federal and local law enforcement officials then went to a job site where Martinez has been employed in Shelby County and fingerprinted and positively identified him.
The fingerprint check also allegedly associated Martinez with an FBI number that showed previous immigration arrests. Court records also noted that investigators reviewed Martinez’s file, and it revealed there was no documentation that he had applied for, or was given, any permission for legal admission back into the country since being deported.
Martinez remains in Shelby County Jail on his probation revocation.
The news of his indictment for illegal re-entry comes in the wake of Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-5) telling Yellowhammer News’ Dale Jackson that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have “American blood” on their hands for their unwillingness to cooperate with President Donald Trump and the Republicans on border security.
Left-leaning national media outlets, including the Washington Post and MSNBC, have since picked up Brooks’ comments to Yellowhammer News, attempting to portray them as false. Brooks doubled down on his initial remarks during an interview on Jackson’s daily radio show on Wednesday.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
