Romanian Man Sentenced to 15 months Imprisonment for Illegal Re-Entry

St. Thomas, VI -United States Attorney Adam F. Sleeper of the District of the Virgin Islands announced today that Beni Lacatusu, aka Beni Aleman, aka Beni Burcea, 34, of Romania, was sentenced on June 25, 2026, by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert A. Molloy to 15 months imprisonment for illegally entering the United States after having been previously removed.

According to court documents, on December 11, 2025, Lacatusu was encountered by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents near the Nisky Center in St. Thomas, VI. Agents stopped the defendant and another male, introduced themselves as "Immigration," and asked the men about their nationality. Lacatusu stated that he was Romanian and did not have status to be in the United States legally. Lacatusu was taken to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office where he was confirmed to be a Romanian citizen without legal status to be present in the United States.

While performing routine records checks to confirm the identity of Lacatusu, agents discovered that Lacatusu had previously been deported twice on June 21, 2019, and July 4, 2025, from New York, New York. Further record checks revealed that Lacatusu was convicted of felony offenses of credit card theft and fraud in Freehold, New Jersey on April 17, 2025, and had five outstanding warrants spanning four states. He was also convicted of Illegal Re-entry, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326, on June 6, 2025, in the District of New Jersey, and received a sentence of time served.

The case was investigated by HSI. It was prosecuted by Criminal Chief Kyle Payne of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of the Virgin Islands.