Migrant Charged with Child Molestation Deported Twice, Released Back into Community

A migrant from El Salvador, Ervin Jeovany Alfaro-Lopez, has been charged with molesting children as young as 6 years old. Shockingly, he had been deported twice before, only to be arrested and released back into the community last year, despite being in the country illegally. The accused, 33-year-old Alfaro-Lopez, allegedly groped at least four little girls while they were praying at a church in Derwood, Maryland, where he worked as a teacher.

Alfaro-Lopez is now facing 25 counts of sexual misconduct charges, with abuse allegations dating as far back as 2014. Following his most recent arrest on March 11, he is currently being held without bond in the Montgomery County Detention Center.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Alfaro-Lopez was removed from the US in 2015 and again in 2020. His first encounter with border agents occurred on March 23, 2015, when he was arrested near Lake Charles, Louisiana, for unlawfully entering the country. He was released on bond in April 2015 and ordered to report to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore field office.

In September 2018, an immigration judge in Baltimore ordered Alfaro-Lopez’s removal from the country. However, he was arrested again in January 2019 and subsequently crossed back into the US in April 2019. He was apprehended once more in March 2020 in Texas and processed for expedited removal, being sent back to El Salvador later that month.

Despite these deportations, Alfaro-Lopez managed to re-enter the US illegally and was arrested by Montgomery County Police on August 9, 2023. He was charged with second-degree rape and two counts of a sex offense in the third degree. Shockingly, he was released just two days later when the Montgomery County Detention Center refused to honor an immigration detainer issued by ICE.

Darius Reeves, the ERO Baltimore Field Office Director, expressed his concern over the situation, stating that such cases highlight the level of criminality when individuals are repeatedly recycled back into communities. Reeves emphasized the need for jurisdictions to honor ICE detainers, calling the failure to do so an obstruction of federal law enforcement efforts.

Alfaro-Lopez’s charges were amended in September last year to include additional counts of sex offenses. On March 11, he was arrested again by Montgomery County Police, this time on five additional counts of sexual abuse of a minor and eight counts of sex offenses in the third degree. These new charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred between March 2016 and December 2018.

Court documents reveal that the alleged abuse took place at the Elim Misión Cristiana church, where Alfaro-Lopez worked as an instructor and educational coordinator. The victims, four girls between the ages of six and 12, including the daughter of the church pastor, reported that the abuse occurred during prayer sessions when their eyes were closed. Alfaro-Lopez allegedly groped their bodies over and underneath their clothing.