Four-Time Deported Illegal Alien Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Illegal Reentry

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Franklin Flores-Penas, 48, of Honduras, was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to illegal reentry by an alien, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Flores-Penas will be removed from the United States after he completes his prison sentence.

According to court records and the sentencing hearing on October 26, 2025, Flores-Penas was arrested in Buncombe County. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement determined that the defendant had illegally reentered into the United Sates four times after he had been deported. Court records show that on January 16, 2004, Flores-Penas was convicted of a felony drug offense in Los Angeles, California, and on February 25, 2004, he was ordered to be deported back to Honduras. Subsequently, Flores-Penas was removed from the United States three more times, in 2008, 2015 and 2018. Each time the defendant was removed, he illegally reentered the United States voluntarily without gaining the express consent of the Secretary of Homeland Security to reenter.

In announcing the sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger noted Flores-Penas's disregard for the law and his many previous reentries after deportation.

Flores-Penas remains in federal custody and will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Buncombe County Sherrif's Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher S. Hess of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Asheville prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide 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 (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.