Police arrest sex offender once deported to El Salvador

Julia C. Mead:

An illegal immigrant who was deported to his native El Salvador last year after he was convicted of sexually abusing a 12-year-old was arrested again on Sunday after the police spotted him on Long Island, the Suffolk County police said.

Members of the Second Precinct's gang unit said they spotted Fredy E. Bonilla, 25, at the corner of Depot Road and Eighth Street in Huntington Station about 6:45 p.m. They recognized him from a photo, and a subsequent computer check showed that he was the subject of a warrant for violating his probation, said Sgt. Kenneth Holvik, a Second Precinct spokesman.

Fingerprints confirmed his identity, the sergeant said.

Mr. Bonilla was charged in May 2004 with second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, whom the police said they were forbidden to identify, and convicted the next month. A spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office said he was sentenced to 60 days in jail and six years' probation. He was also ordered to register as a Level 1 sex offender.

In March 2005, after his release from jail, he was one of several registered sex offenders arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. He was deported to El Salvador on May 3, 2005. Suffolk County's probation department then issued a warrant that was enforceable if he re-entered the United States.

The Suffolk police said they did not know how or when Mr. Bonilla re-entered the country. "He was obviously nervous when the officers approached him, and he lied about everything they asked him," Sergeant Holvik said.

He said Mr. Bonilla gave officers a false name. When asked for identification, he handed over a card and then smacked it out of an officer's hand, he said. He was charged with second-degree harassment, unlawful impersonation, governmental obstruction and violating probation.

The Suffolk police said he would be turned over to federal immigration agents after his arraignment. An immigration spokesman said Mr. Bonilla could be charged with re-entering the United States after a deportation, a felony.

Convicted Child Sex Offender Re-Arrested