By Peter Boylan

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A 51-year-old man from Mexico deported at least three times has been sentenced to a year in federal prison after he was caught reentering the U.S. following a September 2024 drunk driving arrest in Kona.

Abraham Moreno Garcia, 51, aka “Estevan Carvajal Villagomez” and “Carlos Daniel Lopez,” was removed at least three times for illegally reentering the U.S., and has two felony convictions for coming back to the country after he was removed.

During one of those reentry attempts, Moreno Garcia used a Hawaii driver’s license as proof of citizenship.

Moreno Garcia pleaded guilty May 2 to a charge of being an illegal alien present in the U.S. after having been previously convicted of a felony and removed from the country. His sentence on Sept. 5 also includes three years of supervised release. Moreno Garcia is also subject to immigration removal proceedings.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Hawaii
Police Department investigated and Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren W.K. Ching prosecuted the case.

U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake reminded Moreno Garcia that at his 2019 illegally reentry sentencing before her, when he was sentenced to approximately five months, Moreno Garcia told her he would not return to the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney’s

Moreno Garcia returned and continued to drive drunk and Otake said that Moreno Garcia is a “danger on the roads and the public must be protected from him.”

In a sentencing memo that accompanied letters from his family, Moreno Garcia’s attorney told the court that he was a joyful man, one of 11 siblings who raised three daughters by working in various jobs “plastering and painting, and food service.”

“Mr. Moreno Garcia recognizes that by returning to the United States after his prior convictions for unlawful reentry, he broke the Court’s trust. He does not take this lightly. What is
different now is that he has a clear plan for his future in Mexico and the support of his family to help him succeed,” wrote his attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Jacquelyn T. Esser. “He intends to open a restaurant in Colima, Mexico, approximately three hours from Guadalajara, where he has both family and community ties to support him. His brother has offered him a place to live and is eager to partner with him in the business.”

According to federal court documents, Moreno Garcia came to the attention of law enforcement after a 2024 Kailua-Kona arrest for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant when he was stopped for speeding 64 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone.

“He had watery and glassy eyes and an odor of alcohol on his breath. He did not have a license, insurance, registration, or a certificate of inspection,” read an Aug. 29 sentencing memo authored by Ching, asking for a 12-month federal prison sentence. “The vehicle also had fraudulent tags and several empty alcohol bottles. He failed the field sobriety tests and displayed signs of impairment.”

He was driving without
a license, insurance, and
vehicle registration. Moreno Garcia had two convictions and six other drunken driving arrests. He also had two prior federal convictions for illegally reentering the United States.

“(S)tarting in 1998, while illegally in the United States, (Moreno Garcia) began his criminal activity, which includes at least nine arrests and/or convictions for driving while under the influence of an intoxicant,” read Ching’s memo. “This made him a threat on the roads of New Mexico and Hawaii. It’s no small miracle that he avoided killing anyone while drunk driving. Since 2002, he has been removed from the United States twice.”

Moreno Garcia was convicted in 2019 in Hawaii for illegal reentry and sentenced to five months in federal prison. He was sent back to Mexico in March 2019.

He reentered the U.S. illegally and was arrested on Hawaii island in March for the immigration violation.

A March 5 joint narcotics investigation identified a parcel containing narcotics headed to a Kailua-Kona address that was addressed to Abraham Garcia, according to a criminal complaint filed March 13 in U.S. District Court in Hawaii.

Officers involved in the investigation identified Moreno Garcia as a suspect.

HSI agents made checks showing he did not have permission to be in the U.S. They saw Moreno Garcia on March 7 in Kona and confirmed his identity, according to federal court records.

The agents arrested him for being in the U.S. without admission. They found an identification card that matched his name and took his fingerprints, which were a biometric match for fingerprints obtained in previous removals.

Moreno Garcia agreed
to a recorded interview March 8 with HSI agents and told them he was previously removed from the U.S. in 2002, 2003 and 2019, and knew he could not come back to the U.S.

He said he most recently reentered in 2023 near San Ysidro, Calif.

Moreno Garcia’s state criminal history includes convictions for drunken driving, driving without insurance, driving without a license and other moving violations with four arrests in New Mexico from 1998 to 2000, and convictions for six traffic violations on
Hawaii island from 2002 to 2019.

On Sept. 3, 2024, Moreno Garcia was arrested by
Hawaii County police for
allegedly driving under the influence of an intoxicant, operating a motor vehicle without insurance, driving without a license, having an open container of liquor in a motor vehicle and false certificates.

Moreno Garcia was born in 1974 and in Sept. 20, 2002, falsely applied as a U.S. citizen for admission into the U.S. from Mexico at the Los Angeles International Airport Port of Entry, according to federal court records.

He was arrested Sept. 20, 2002, processed and given
a notice and order of expedited removal.

He also signed form I-296, which explains he was prohibited from entering or being in the U.S. for a period of five years from the date of departure. An immigration inspector also signed the form, which identified a flight departing Los Angeles as the method he was to depart the United States.

But on Sept. 22, 2002, Moreno Garcia attempted to reenter the U.S. in a vehicle at the Columbus Port
of Entry, New Mexico, by presenting a Hawaii driver’s license with the name Carlos Daniel Lopez as proof
of citizenship.

He was charged Sept. 23, 2002, by criminal complaint for violating reentry of a removed alien and false claim to U.S. citizenship. He entered into a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to the reentry charge.

On Feb. 5, 2003, he
was ordered to a sentence of time served and sent back to Mexico under the condition he could not come back to the U.S. for

Sixteen years later, on Feb. 22, 2019, Hawaii Police Department officers arrested him for driving with a suspended license and drunken driving.

On May 1, 2019, ICE arrested Moreno Garcia in Kailua-Kona and eight days later he pleaded guilty to reentry of a removed alien. He was sentenced to time served. On Oct. 8, 2019, Moreno Garcia was removed from the U.S. to Mexico at San Ysidro, Calif.