Illegal Alien Charged with VA Town’s First ‘Stranger Rape’ in 12 Years, 4 Days After His Release

Illegal Alien Charged with VA Town’s First ‘Stranger Rape’ in 12 Years, 4 Days After His Release

A Herndon, Virginia, woman was raped by an illegal alien last Monday night shortly before 9 p.m. while walking on a popular, and very public, running trail. It should come as no surprise that the offender has a history of sex crimes. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard said, “This is the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than 12 years as chief of police.”

“What is disturbing is the number of times this individual has been arrested and released. He has continued to reoffend and his behavior has escalated to a rape in a very public area in our town last night,” DeBoard added.

Reporting from Herndon on Tuesday, Fox 5 DC correspondent Josh Rosenthal said the victim eventually got away and minutes later, Honduran national Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, 31, who is in the U.S. illegally, was arrested in a nearby parking lot. According to Rosenthal, Romero “has a documented history of both sexual assault and exposures in the region, beginning in 2022.”

Rosenthal noted that the Washington and Old Dominion Trail runs right through the center of the town and gets very busy in the evening hours. “We’re talking families, people exercising … walking their dogs. And that’s a big part of why community members are so concerned.”

[Note: Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is located approximately 25 miles west of Washington, D.C. ]

The New York Post reported that Romero had been released from jail only four days before this incident. Authorities told the Post that Romero had been “freed on Nov. 14 after serving just half his 50-day indecent exposure sentence due to ‘good behavior.'”

He is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center as he awaits a preliminary hearing.

In a Sunday statement, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote:

“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. 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 is not a sanctuary state. When President Trump takes office, the political posturing will end, and localities will cooperate with ICE to protect Virginians.”

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. This is a dereliction of their most basic duty to keep people safe. Prioritizing violent illegal immigrants… https://t.co/sqKUqbsGeg

— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) November 24, 2024

According to the Post:

Romero’s sex crime spree started in 2018, when Herndon PD received a report that the perv fondled a 14-year-old. That triggered a Fairfax County sex crimes investigation, which uncovered that he’d also exposed himself to a 10-year-old and 13-year-old the year prior, per police records obtained by the Washington Post.

But the victims’ parents were loath to talk with police, and the investigation closed with no charges.

His first arrest came four years later, when he choked a Herndon cop responding to another one of his deviant acts — this time, smacking a woman’s behind at a local restaurant.

Herndon police charged him with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, but the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor assault in exchange for a guilty plea.

His most recent stint in the slammer was due to an Oct. 19 indecent exposure incident.

Unfortunately, stories of rapes and even murders of U.S. citizens at the hands of illegal aliens are becoming way too familiar. In this case, the perpetrator arrived in the country before President Joe Biden opened up our southern border in 2021. But the Biden-Harris administration’s soft-on-crime policies have been a boon for repeat offenders like Romero, who should have been deported years ago.

The results of this administration’s failure to enforce U.S. immigration laws and the leniency of Democratic district attorneys and judges, have been devastating for the country.

And Democrats know it. If these policies were so popular with voters, why did Vice President Kamala Harris run away from these positions when she became the nominee? The answer is, that after four years, Americans have seen, first hand, the human tragedy that results from such recklessness.

On Sunday, Prof. Jacobson reported the results of a CBS News/You Gov poll which found that 57% of participants approve of President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport all aliens who are in the U.S. illegally. Just 43% disapprove of the program.

We need to take our country back. We’ve come dangerously close to losing it.

Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.

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