Police say a Honduran man who entered the United States illegally in 2021 was charged with raping an Alabama teenager.
Geovani Grevi Rivera-Zavala (29) is charged with rape and is being held without bond, following an alleged assault on a teenager inside a Prattville restaurant, in Alabama last weekend.
Alabama police testified in court that Rivera-Zavala stared at the victim from across the room when she was eating with her family.
The girl then walked into the bathroom where she saw a woman that she did not know. When the woman left, Rivera Zavala who was also unknown to her, entered the bathroom and locked the door. He forced the teenager into a stall and raped her.
Kaitlyn Swat, an investigator with the Prattville Police Department, testified in court that the girl had repeatedly told her attacker “No” and tried to fight him off.
Rivera-Zavala, who was attempting to leave the restaurant, was identified by police after the girl told her family what had happened.
Sweat claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed an immigration hold on Rivera-Zavala. She said in court, that she was told by government sources that the 29-year-old Honduran had illegally entered the U.S. at Eagle Pass in Texas in November 2021.
WSFA-TV reported Rivera-Zavala used a different name when he entered the United States. He was fingerprinted and then allowed to enter the country.
“We’re not interested in negotiating with the feds,” District Attorney CJ Robinson told Autauga District Judge Jessica Sanders, who denied bail for Rivera-Zavala.
They can take his body after DOC (Department of Corrections), is done with him. We won’t negotiate a lower charge to allow the federal government to deport him.
Rivera-Zavala is facing a Class A felony charge of rape that could lead to 10 to 99 years in prison or even life.
In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded 1.7 million encounters with migrants. In fiscal 2022, migrant crossings increased to 2.3 million. Border authorities also encountered 718,000 migrants in the first 100 days of fiscal 2023.
The White House did not respond to our request for comment.
