A man who was arrested during a traffic stop in Portland and charged with entering the U.S. illegally was sentenced to time served on Wednesday.

Mario Ernesto Garcia-Zavala, 22, a citizen of Honduras, was sentenced in U.S. District Court by George Z. Singal to time served (about 221 days) after being found guilty of having entered the United States after being removed, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank. Garcia-Zavala was convicted last month following a non-jury trial.

The evidence at trial showed that Garcia-Zavala unlawfully entered the U.S. in early 2014 and was ordered removed to Honduras on March 29, 2014. Four days later, immigration authorities returned him to Honduras. Garcia-Zavala did not apply for permission to reenter the United States.

He was arrested in Portland on Sept. 9, 2017 after a Maine State Trooper stopped the van on I-295 in which he was a passenger for traffic violations.

His lawyer argued unsuccessfully that the van was pulled over due to racial profiling, while the state trooper who made the stop said he stopped the van because a front seat passenger was not wearing a seatbelt and he later noticed a cracked windshield.


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