An illegal from Honduras has been accused of raping a woman in Virginia — mere days after he was released from jail on another sex crime charge.
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Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, 31, was charged with raping a woman on a hiking trail in Herndon, Va., just outside Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18.
It was the first sexual assault of its kind there in more than a decade, authorities said.
“This is the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than 12 years as chief of police,” Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard said in a press conference.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin slammed officials for releasing Romero back into the community instead of turning him over to authorities for deportaton.
“I am heartsick for this victim and outraged that local Fairfax County officials recklessly release violent illegal immigrants who should have been prosecuted and deported,” Youngkin told the New York Post.
“This is a dereliction of their most basic duty to keep people safe,” he continued. “Prioritizing violent illegal immigrants over the safety of Fairfax residents is unacceptable.”
According to cops, Romero has a lengthy rap sheet that dates back years.
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He was released from jail four days before his arrest after serving just half of his 50-day sentence for indecent exposure due to “good behaviour,” according to authorities, the Post reported.
The victim said she was on the busy walking trail when Romero allegedly grabbed her arm, forced her to the ground and raped her just before 9 p.m.
A bystander called police who arrived at the scene where Romero was quickly arrested.
“What is disturbing is the number of times this individual has been arrested and released,” the police chief told reporters.
“He has continued to reoffend and his behaviour has escalated to a rape in a very public area.”
Romero’s first reported crime was in 2018 when he fondled a 14-year-old girl.
An investigation was launched and Fairfax County investigators learned he had also exposed himself to a 10-year-old and 13-year-old in 2017, according to police records obtained by the Washington Post.
However, Romero wasn’t arrested until 2022 when he choked a Herndon officer who was called to the scene of a local restaurant where the illegal smacked a woman’s buttocks.
He was charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, but the charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor assault by Fairfax County Commonwealth prosecutors in exchange for a guilty plea.
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s office says it notifies ICE every time they arrest an undocumented individual, but the department’s lawyer told the Washington Post that the agency never received a warrant or detainer in the four times Romero was in their custody.
Romero is currently in jail as he awaits a preliminary hearing on charges of intent to defile and rape.