Pedro Alvarez-Hernandez, age 45, is our Minnesota Man of the day. Alvarez appeared at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Minneapolis to enter a guilty plea for felony illegal immigration.
He is reported to have been deported back in March 2024, but returned to the state at some point thereafter.
He boasts three prior state felony convictions. In 2008 he was convicted of 2nd-degree drug dealing in Todd County.
Also in 2008, he was convicted in Stearns County of a domestic-assault-related felony. Also in Stearns County, also in 2008, in a separate case, he was convicted of a felony weapons charge related to a drive-by shooting.
Both of the Stearns County felony convictions related to a series of (unrelated?) events that took place on Christmas Eve 2005. Court documents do not record whether or not he received a lump of coal that year.
At this point, mentioning his 2004 and 2005 misdemeanor convictions for domestic assault, property damage, and DWI seems like piling on.
No sentence was pronounced on Mr. Alvarez today. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for November 6.
Over in St. Paul, Carlos Adrian Verdugo-Castro appeared in federal court to determine whether he would remain in custody as he awaits trial in his illegal re-entry case.
You will recall that Verdugo made his way to Minnesota from his native Ecuador via the U.S. Virgin Islands and other point south. His case dates back originally to October. For a number of months, he was under home detention as his case proceeded.
Due to multiple violations of that arrangement, he will remain in custody.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light.
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight.
