An illegal migrant from El Salvador who has been twice deported from the U.S. was this week charged with more than 20 counts of sex abuse and sex offenses of minors during his time working as a church teacher in Maryland.
Ervin Jeovany Alfaro Lopez, 33, was arrested on Monday by the Montgomery County Department of Police on charges including sex abuse of a minor.
The incidents allegedly took place between 2016 and 2018 at a Derwood church located in the 15700 block of Crabbs Branch Way in Montgomery County. The victims were aged between 6 and 12 at the time, according to the case in Montgomery County Circuit court. He has also been charged with rape in the second-degree and two counts of sex offense third degree in relation to the incidents.
Police began the investigation in May after a victim came forward. Following the initial complaint, three more victims came forward in September and January and were reported to have been sexually abused by Alfaro Lopez at the same church.
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One of the victims was the daughter of the church pastor, Fox 5 DC reports.
A father of one of the victims told investigators that he spoke to the pastor and believed that "the incident had been handled inside the church" and his daughter told investigators that Alfaro-Lopez had "got in trouble and wasn't allowed to teach anymore," reports Fox 5.
The victims reported that the abuse often happened when students were praying with their eyes closed and that Alfaro-Lopez touched them both over and under their clothing, the news outlet reports.
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Alfaro-Lopez is being held without bond in the Montgomery County Detention Center.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) moved this week to deport Alfaro-Lopez should he be released. The agency says he has entered the country illegally at least three times and has been subject to two deportation orders.
Fox 5, citing ICE, says that Alfaro Lopez was first arrested by U.S. Border Patrol near Lake Charles, Louisiana, in March 2015, after having unlawfully entered the U.S. and was subsequently removed in September 2018.
Alfaro-Lopez was re-arrested in the U.S. in January 2019, granted a voluntary departure and left the country in April 2019.
But in March 2020, Alfaro-Lopez was caught by Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas after he came back into the country illegally. U.S. Border Patrol processed him for expedited removal, and he was deported in March 2020.
ICE says it’s not known when Alfaro-Lopez re-entered the U.S. but he was arrested by Montgomery County police in August and charged with rape second-degree and two counts of sex offense third degree.
The same day, an immigration detainer was issued against Alfaro-Lopez but according to ICE, the Montgomery County Detention Center refused to honor the order and Alfaro-Lopez was released from custody on Aug. 11, 2023.
