Methuen Man Pleads Guilty to Illegal Reentry

BOSTON - A Methuen man pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to illegally reentering the United States after deportation.

Santos Guzman, 55, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry before U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper who scheduled sentencing for Feb. 12, 2025. Guzman was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2021.

Guzman is a citizen of the Dominican Republic who entered the United States at an unknown date and unknown location and thereafter was convicted in 2019 of two state drug trafficking crimes. In November 2019, Guzman was ordered removed from the United States and on Jan. 7, 2020, he was deported to the Dominican Republic. Thereafter, at an unknown time and place, he reentered the United States. In November 2021, Guzman was arrested on a new state drug trafficking offense. A copy of his fingerprint from his removal document was compared to his fingerprint taken in connection with his November 2021 arrest and they were identical to each other.

The charge illegal reentry provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Todd M. Lyons, Field Office Director, Boston, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations; and Methuen Police Chief Scott J. McNamara made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.