PENSACOLA — Sixteen illegal aliens were convicted of federal immigration crimes in the Northern District of Florida in June, including a Jamaican national convicted of voting by aliens, U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin announced.
Fifteen of the 16 were convicted of illegal reentry by a removed alien — meaning each had been previously deported and returned unlawfully. Several were serial reentrants. Juan Contreras-Vilches, 47, of Mexico, had been removed five times between 2017 and 2019 before being encountered in Okaloosa County. Dania Chaver-Pereira, 31, of Honduras, had been removed three times before being encountered, also in Okaloosa County. Miguel Ico Martinez, 29, of Mexico, had been removed three times in 2024 alone before his encounter in Okaloosa County.
“Our citizens deserve to know that our federal government is committed to securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws, and my office will continue to aggressively prosecute criminal illegal aliens who think they can lie, cheat, and steal their way into our country,” Heekin said.
The sixteenth conviction — Jacqueline Wallace, 54, of Jamaica — was for voting by aliens, a federal crime that carries up to five years in prison under 18 U.S.C. §611. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not release additional details about the circumstances of Wallace’s vote.
Okaloosa County was the most frequent encounter location, with eight of the 15 reentry defendants found there. The remaining cases were spread across Leon, Santa Rosa, Escambia and Walton counties. The earliest encounter dated to Abraham Flores Tercero, 48, of Nicaragua, who was found in Leon County after a previous removal in 2009. Other defendants included Dualder Velasquez-Granados, 28, of Guatemala, encountered in Santa Rosa County; Alcides Miguel Martinez-Martinez, 42, of Honduras, removed twice before his Okaloosa County encounter; Jose Ricardo Hernandez-Perez, 23, of Mexico, encountered in Escambia County; Rene Alberto Guerra-Vega, 42, of El Salvador, encountered in Leon County; Gabriel Garcia Hernandez, 41, of Mexico; Wily Antonio Escobar-Canterelo, 29, of Honduras; Moises Siquic-Tiul, 39, of Guatemala, encountered in Walton County; Jose Mendez Pena, 35, of Mexico, encountered in Escambia County; Esteban Hernandez-Muniz, 53, of Mexico, encountered in Santa Rosa County; Juan Molina-Hernandez, 36, of Honduras; and Iran Gomez-Aguilera, 43, of Mexico.
The cases were investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations with assistance from the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Gulf Breeze Police Department. Seven assistant U.S. attorneys — Thomas S.P. Geeker, Brooke Lindsay, Jessica S. Etherton, Jeffrey M. Tharp, Michelle Spaven, Joseph A. Ravelo and Eric Welch — prosecuted the cases.
The convictions fall under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice nationwide initiative targeting illegal immigration, cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Sentencing dates for the 16 defendants have not yet been announced.