The illegal Venezuelan immigrant charged this week with sexually assaulting a minor is being held in a Virginia prison, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says.
ICE spokesperson James Covington released a statement Wednesday night on the arrest of Renzo Mendoza Montes.
"On Feb. 22, 2024, the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, in Rustburg, Virginia, arrested Mendoza for indecent liberties with a child under thirteen years of age and carnal knowledge of a child thirteen to fourteen years of age without force," Covington wrote in the statement.
VENEZUELAN MIGRANT ILLEGALLY IN US CHARGED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT AGAINST MINOR IN VIRGINIA
"Mendoza is currently detained without bond at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority, in Madison Heights, Virginia," the statement continued. "An immigration detainer has been lodged against Mendoza with the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority. ERO Washington, D.C. will take custody of Mendoza upon the resolution of his pending criminal case."
According to deputies, Mendoza was previously detained and released by US Customs and Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, on September 2, 2023.
The arrest and charges are only the latest in a string of crimes linked to foreign nationals previously released on parole after being detained.
LAKEN RILEY'S DEATH A 'VERY CONCERNING' WAKE-UP CALL ON EXTENT OF MIGRANT CRISIS, SHERIFF SAYS
University of Georgia police found the body of 22-year-old Laken Riley in a forested area behind Lake Herrick around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 22, after a friend called authorities to report that she left for a run Thursday morning and never returned.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela living in an apartment building that sits on the edge of the park where Riley was running, allegedly murdered the aspiring nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a "crime of opportunity."
The 26-year-old suspect illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, three ICE and DHS, sources told Fox News.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
