Francisco Estrada-Deltaro is now a convicted federal felon, by his own admission. This turn of events may have come to a complete shock to local media consumers, The Minnesota Star Tribune reports,
Owner of Lake Street restaurant searched by federal agents in June pleads guilty in immigration case
That search was in conjunction with a drug case involving 900 lbs. of meth. Details from the Star Tribune,
Francisco Estrada-Deltaro, owner of Las Cuatro Milpas restaurants in Minneapolis and Bloomington, entered a plea Wednesday to one count of re-entry of a removed alien with a prior felony in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota after he was deported three times.
“Guilty, sir,” Estrada-Deltaro told U.S. District Judge David Doty in a Minneapolis federal courtroom.
I’ve been tracking some 78 identical federal immigration cases in Minnesota, and this is the first time one has garnered attention from the local media. I’m sure that the sensational events of June play a role, where the execution of federal search warrants were mistaken for an ICE raid and a near-riot erupted on Lake Street.
Yesterday’s pleading represented Estrada’s third felony conviction. The plea agreement filed describes his three previous deportations back to his native Mexico. Other court documents record his use of some half-dozen different aliases.
Unlike the typical felony illegal re-entry case, where the defendant is sentenced to time served and then deported soon thereafter, Estrada’s plea agreement includes a sentencing guideline of 8 to 14 months in prison.
No date has been set yet for his sentencing.
Developing…
