Date: 08-29-2025

Case Style: United States of America v. Arael Martinez Perez

Case Number: 24-CR-215

Judge: RAL

Court: United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Hillsborough County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: United States District Attorney’s Office in Tampa

Defendant's Attorney:

Description: Tampa, Florida criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with forgery.

Martinez Perez entered the United States on an unknown
date. In 2003, he was convicted of forgery after presenting a fake
resident alien card to a police officer investigating a hit and run.
The following month, immigration officials deported Martinez Pe-
rez, but he returned at an unknown date. In 2004, Martinez Perez
was convicted of driving under the influence. Over the next two
years, he evaded detection by immigration officials but continued
to sustain arrests for various offenses.

In 2006, Martinez Perez was again charged and convicted of
driving under the influence. The following month, he was charged
and convicted of domestic abuse after kicking his girlfriend in the
shin, striking her in the face with a closed fist, and pulling a set of
car keys from her in a manner that resulted in a cut. Later that same
year, Martinez Perez was convicted and sentenced to 15 months’
imprisonment for reentry of a removed alien.

n 2007, immigration officials deported Martinez Perez. He
later reentered the country, but was arrested for forgery after pre-
senting a falsified driver’s license to the police. Immigration
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officials promptly deported Martinez Perez, but he reentered the
country on an unknown date.

In 2010, officers arrested Martinez Perez for driving while
under the influence. He was thereafter convicted of reentry of a
removed alien following conviction for an aggravated felony and
sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment, after which he was de-
ported for a fourth time. In 2016, Martinez Perez was convicted of
operating a vehicle without a driver’s license and while under the
influence.

In May 2024, ICE agents arrested Martinez Perez, and the
government charged him in an indictment with illegal reentry of a
removed alien. The indictment noted that Martinez Perez had
three prior felony convictions: one for forgery in 2003 and two for
illegal reentry of a removed alien in 2006 and 2011, respectively.
The indictment further alleged that he had been removed from the
U.S. four separate times—in 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013. Martinez
Perez pleaded guilty without a plea agreement.

Outcome: The district court imposed a sentence of 36 months’ impris-
onment to be followed by three years of supervised release, a vari-
ance from the Guidelines range of 10 to 16 months. The district
court stated that it had considered the Sentencing Guidelines and
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all of the factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1)-(7), and that it had found
that the sentence was “reasonable” and “sufficient but not greater
than necessary to comply with the statutory purposes of sentenc-
ing.”

The court explained that Martinez Perez’s danger to the
community justified the variance: “[T]his man is a menace. . . .
2004, operating while intoxicated. 2005, operating while intoxi-
cated. And, of course, he’s got a domestic violence, and he has the
reentry of removed alien. And all of those -- and also the forgery.
And all of those, by the way, are not scored. Then he has another
reentry. . . . And now he has pending another DUI in Hillsborough
County. And he keeps returning to this country. . . . If ever there
was a case for an upward variance, this is it."

Affirmed

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: