By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-28 20:39:20 | Updated at 2024-11-28 22:36:39
2 hours ago
The illegal migrant arrested on rape charges in Virginia last week has a lengthy rap sheet including nearly 30 run-ins with cops for sex crimes and assaults — but was repeatedly given slaps on the wrists instead of being booted out of the country, The Post has learned.
Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, 31, has been a menace since 2017, racking up 29 encounters with police ranging from small-time drug offenses to a disturbing progression of perverse crimes like indecent exposure, public nudity and masturbation and sexual assault, law enforcement sources said.
The Honduran migrant was arrested last week for allegedly raping a woman on a hiking trail just outside DC — just four days after he was released from jail for indecent exposure. In that case, he was released early after serving just half of his 50-day sentence due to “good behavior,” authorities said.
In his first known contact with law enforcement in 2017, a 14-year-old reported Navarette Romero fondled her and exposed himself to her nieces, who were 10 and 13 years old at the time — but the family declined to press charges and resisted authorities’ attempts to investigate it, police reports show.
In 2022, he went on a spree of perverse behavior in and around the National Mall in Washington, including telling cops he wanted to die via “suicide by cop,” entering a restricted area of the White House and skinny dipping in the water fountain at the National Museum of American Indian History, sources said.
In June of that year, he smacked a woman’s behind in a restaurant — then tried to choke a cop and hit another in the face, records show. He landed in jail for eight days, then went on yet another rampage involving simple assault, trespassing and smoking marijuana and drinking in public the following month.
Records show he served another six months in jail until January 2023 and was rearrested months later in June for allegedly drunkenly urinating on the World War II Memorial in DC.
He would go on to allegedly commit even more acts of indecent exposure and assault until he was finally charged with rape and abduction Nov. 14. That’s just four days after he was released early from prison, serving half a 50-day sentence for exposing himself to a woman walking her dog.
An attorney for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s office told The Post that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is notified each time an illegal migrant is booked into their Adult Detention Center — four times in Navarette Romero’s case — but a warrant or detainer from the agency was never issued.
When contacted by The Post, ICE would not confirm or deny that account from the county sheriff’s office, nor whether they were aware of Navarette Romero’s illegal status.
Now Virginia officials, like Gov. Glenn Youngkin, are pointing the finger at ultra-liberal Fairfax County for being soft on migrant crime and refusing to cooperate with immigration authorities for even dangerous repeat offenders under its “Trust Policy” which effectively renders it a sanctuary county.
Youngkin (R-Va.) said the county has made law-abiding citizens less safe.
“I am heartsick for this victim and outraged that local Fairfax County officials recklessly release violent illegal immigrants who should have been prosecuted and deported,” the Republican governor told The Post Sunday.
“This is a dereliction of their most basic duty to keep people safe. Prioritizing violent illegal immigrants over the safety of Fairfax residents is unacceptable.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares blamed Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano.
“Steve Descano owes his community both an apology and because of his continued missteps and failures, he owes them his resignation as well,” Miyares told The Post.
Descano prosecuted a case involving Navarette Romero in 2022, when he was charged with assaulting a Herndon police officer. Descano pleaded the charge down to a misdemeanor assault — without any input from Herndon police.
“This was a violent act of rape which was utterly preventable. Shame on those who chose expediency and politics over public safety and integrity. Fairfax County deserves to have prosecutors protecting their interests, not a gaggle of social workers covering for criminals,” Miyares added.
Descano’s spokesperson Laura Birnbaum stood by Descano’s handling of Navarette Romero’s case, telling The Post that “he was prosecuted, convicted of charges that reflect the facts of the case, and served his time.”
A spokesperson from ICE’s DC Enforcement and Removal Operations office said the agency had interviewed the accused rapist and issued a detainer — more than a week after the crime occurred.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations interviewed Denis Humberto Navarrete-Romero, 31, an unlawfully present Honduran national, Nov. 26,” the office said Tuesday.
“On the same day, ICE ERO lodged an immigration detainer with Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Navarrete entered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location and without admission by an immigration official,” the statement concluded.
Navarette Romero is being held in the Fairfax County Jail awaiting a hearing on March 5. His attorney Thomas F. Koerner declined The Post’s request for comment.
Additional reporting by Jennie Taer
