Kevin Noel Ochoa Venegas, a 32-year-old citizen of Honduras, has pleaded guilty in federal court to the charge of illegal reentry after removal from the United States. The announcement was made by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin stated: “This criminal alien has demonstrated a brazen disregard for our national immigration laws, as evidenced by his repeated deportations and illegal returns to our country. He has also clearly shown he is a threat to our communities while unlawfully present here through his other criminal acts, including his commission of a sex offense. Thanks to the outstanding work of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and our federal law enforcement partners, this criminal alien sex offender has been removed from our streets. My office stands ready to aggressively prosecute offenders like this to fulfill the promise made by President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi to Take Back America from the criminal aliens who mistakenly believe they can violate our national and state laws with impunity.”
According to court documents, Ochoa Venegas was arrested on April 11, 2025, in Bay County, Florida, for driving without a valid license. Authorities determined that he was in the country illegally and had previously been removed from the United States twice—once in 2016 and again in 2021 following a conviction for a sex crime that required him to register as a sex offender. He had not received permission to reenter since his last removal.
Ochoa Venegas faces up to 20 years in prison and up to three years of supervised release upon completion of his sentence. An ICE detainer is in place so that deportation proceedings will begin after he serves his term.
The case resulted from an investigation conducted by both the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit. Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen is prosecuting the case.
Sentencing is set for December 5, 2025, at 3:00 pm at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before Judge Mark E. Walker.
This prosecution falls under Operation Take Back America, which aims to address illegal immigration and combat transnational criminal organizations across the nation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida operates as one of 94 such offices under direction of the Attorney General and provides more information on its official website at http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
