PENSACOLA — A federal grand jury indicted a 24-year-old Guatemalan illegal alien on charges of illegal reentry and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin for the Northern District of Florida announced.
Selvin J. Tello-Perez appeared for arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Zachary C. Bolitho in Pensacola. If convicted, Tello-Perez faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment on the firearm charge and up to two years’ imprisonment for illegal reentry.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Alicia H. Forbes is prosecuting the case.
The indictment falls under Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative that “marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, human and drug trafficking.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that “an indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt.” The office added that “all defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.”
Tello-Perez’s jury trial is scheduled for June 15, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. before District Court Judge T. Kent Wetherell, II, in Pensacola.