An illegal immigrant residing in Pocahontas County who had previously been convicted of sexually abusing a minor has been sentenced to four years in federal prison. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa, 39-year-old David Pineda-Medrano, who had been living in Rolfe, pled guilty in October to one count of being a felon found in the United States after illegal reentry. He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to 48 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. At Pineda-Medrano’s sentencing hearing, he admitted that he reentered the country after he was deported in June 2022 due to a conviction in the District of Columbia for attempted first-degree sexual abuse and sexual abuse of a child or minor, for which he served more than four years in prison. Pineda-Medrano was found in Rolfe after he was arrested and convicted of assault causing bodily injury or mental illness. Prosecutors said he struck the victim in the head with the flat side of an 18-inch machete, held the blade to the victim’s throat, and threatened to kill them. Pineda-Medrano remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transfer to a federal penitentiary. This case was brought as part of Operation Take Back America, a DOJ initiative to curb illegal immigration, remove criminal migrants, and eliminate transnational criminal operations in the country.
