Diego Perez-Mejia, age 26 of Guatemala, was sentenced to time served (13 months) for his felony conviction for failure to register as a sex offender.
The sentence was handed down by district chief Judge Eric Tostrud at the federal courthouse in downtown St. Paul this afternoon. Your correspondent was there.
He was also sentenced to serve five-years’ probation, the mandatory minimum. Perez took home Minnesota-Man-of-the-day honors back on August 19, 2025.
Perez is a twice-deported illegal alien, and it’s not clear where he is headed, next. The most likely outcomes are ICE detention and deportation back to Guatemala (again) or returning to Lyon County to face more proceedings in his underlying state criminal case.
The details of the case border on the horrific. Perez was convicted of felony criminal sexual conduct (penetration) of a then fourteen-year-old girl. The union between Perez and the underage girl produced a daughter. At the time, Perez was serving as the fourteen-year-old’s de facto guardian.
In 2024, Perez was sentenced to 60 days in jail on the state felony conviction. He was then deported.
Perez returned and in 2025, he was picked up on a state probation violation and then later taken into federal custody.
In federal court filings, the defense attorney for Perez claims that “much” of the Perez family (but presumably not all) have voluntarily returned to Guatemala.
At today’s federal hearing, in attendance were the judge, two law clerks, one probation officer, one prosecutor, two defense lawyers, three deputy U.S. Marshals, and a Spanish-language interpreter. Every single person there was working at taxpayer-expense.
So much due process.
