Riverside Brothel Operator Deported, Accomplice in Limbo

One man has been deported to Mexico and another awaits an appearance before an immigration judge after the two were recently found guilty of .

Both illegal immigrants, Manuel Lopez-Garcia and Francisco Israel Gonzalez-Chavarria had been incarcerated in the Riverside Correctional Facility following their arrests last November. They were convicted and sentenced at . 

Lopez-Garcia, listed as a resident of Guatemala and Moriches, was convicted and sentenced on March 24 of “attempted promoting or compelling prostitution,” a class E felony, at a house at 43 Vail Ave. and received a six month sentence.

Gonzalez-Chavarria, with residencies in Mexico and Hampton Bays, received the same punishment for the same charge less than two weeks ago.

According to Lori Danker, spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which works under the Department of Homeland Security, Gonzalez-Chavarria was deported to Mexico on April 21, “by order of an immigration judge,” only days after his conviction and sentencing. 

Danker added, “Lopez-Garcia has been removed from the criminal system and is being held in an ICE facility awaiting an appearance before an immigration judge. No date has been set yet.”

Dankers did not reveal exactly in which facility Lopez-Garcia is being held.

She said that the cases of both men had been reviewed under the Criminal Alien Program while they were still in the Riverside jail. From the beginning of their imprisonment they had been on “ICE hold.”

The conviction of Lopez-Garcia and Gonzalez-Chavarria in Suffolk County Criminal Court followed several adjournments in Southampton Town Court. The men had been arrested by the Street Crime Unit of the Southampton Town Police, under Sgt. James Kiernan.

Ryan Horn, legislative aide with Southampton Town, said the town encounters a disproportionate number of cases of code violations from “the Riverside, Northampton and Flanders area,” though he added that since November, there seemed to be no further trouble at the house the men had been using for a brothel.

Previous statements by the attorney for both men, Austin Mangham III of Riverhead, had indicated the case would eventually reach Suffolk County Criminal Court. Mangham said it was his understanding that more than one house had been used by the two men as a brothel. Whether they had used more than one house at any given time he did not know.

Unanswered is why Gonzalez-Chavarria did not file an appeal after receiving an order of removal - a deportation - as he is entitled to do. An alien has 30 days to file such an appeal. Whether Lopez-Garcia receives an order of removal remains to be seen.

When asked about the logistics of deportation, Danker referred to an April 2009 agreement—on “Mexican Repatriation”—between the U.S. and Mexico, brokered by Department of Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa.

“The agreement consists of 30 Local Arrangements for the Repatriation of Mexican Nationals … by the DHS, the Mexican National Institute and the Mexican Consulates located within the jurisdiction of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol sectors … to guarantee a safely, orderly and humane repatriation process,” the DHS said in a statement.

The DHS has not answered requests for comment.