Staff report

BEAUMONT — A 49-year-old Mexican national has pleaded guilty to federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown said Monday.

Luis Garcia-Torres pleaded guilty Monday to unlawful reentry by a deported alien before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith F. Giblin.

According to information presented in court, on Jan. 13 Garcia-Torres was arrested in Orange County for driving while intoxicated. After being booked into the Orange County Jail, it was discovered that Garcia-Torres is an illegal alien with prior felony convictions.

A records check revealed Garcia-Torres had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1988 in North Carolina. Garcia-Torres had also been previously deported from the United States to Mexico in 1990, 2011, and 2016. Garcia-Torres was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas on Feb. 16 and charged with immigration violations.

Under the federal statute, Garcia-Torres faces up to 10 years in federal prison at sentencing. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office

This case is being investigated by the Homeland Security-Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Texas Department of Public Safety and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall L. Fluke.