A twice-deported Mexican national who was let off easy for killing two California teenagers in a drunken crash — sparking widespread outrage — has been sentenced to prison for being in the country illegally.
Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano walked free last year after serving three-and-a-half years of a 10-year sentence for causing the deaths of Anya Varfolomeev and Nicholay Osokin on the San Diego Freeway’s Seal Beach Boulevard in November 2021.
He was released in July and immediately taken back into custody by federal officials, according to reports.
On Friday, US District Judge John Holcomb sentenced Ortega-Anguiano to three years and 10 months in federal prison for illegal re-entry into the US.
He’ll face near-certain deportation — again — after completing his sentence, his attorney noted, according to The Mercury News.
Ortega-Anguiano had already been sent back to Mexico twice and returned when, intoxicated and without a valid driver’s license, he collided with the 2000 Honda driven by Varfolomeev and Osokin just before midnight in Orange County on November 13, 2021.
The judge in that case sentenced him to 10 years and 10 days, but deducted 334 days for time already served in jail and for good behavior, according to the report.
The reduced sentence sparked outrage among the victims’ families. Varfolomeev’s father compared it to his own immigration story, saying: “We came to the United States 35 years ago legally. We are legal immigrants. He is not.”
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Ortega-Anguiano pleaded guilty in October to illegally re-entering the US. Holcomb sentenced him to 46 months in prison and three years of probation.
Speaking to the court on Friday, Ortega-Anguiano told the victim’s families, “I pray for your forgiveness every day.”
