By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
An illegal immigrant was sentenced to time served Friday for sexually molesting a girl over two years starting when she was 11 and when he was living with her family in Princeton.
Judge Robert C. Billmeier, sitting in Trenton, ordered Miguel Medina-Lopez remain held at the Mercer County Correction Center until he can be picked up by federal immigration authorities to have a deportation hearing. The judge said Mr. Medina-Lopez, 34, likely would be sent back to his native Guatemala.
During his sentencing, Mr. Medina-Lopez broke down when he rose to address the judge and apologize for his actions. “I made a mistake and I really regret it,” he said through a court-provided Spanish interpreter.
But when the married father of three young children next referenced his family, his voice turned into a squeal as he bent in a type of agony. His wife, sitting a few rows behind him in the courtroom, showed no emotion as he spoke.
“I don’t want to lose my family or my children. Please forgive me, everyone,” he said. “I just ask for forgiveness. I made a bad mistake. I’m paying for it here.”
That bad mistake involved his molesting the girl starting when she was only 11 and lasting for a two-year-period. He was not related to her but was staying with the girl’s family on Birch Avenue. Mr. Medina-Lopez, having lived in the country illegally since 1995, worked as a landscaper.
The girl finally broke her silence in 2014 by going to authorities at John Witherspoon Middle School in Princeton, where she was attending, authorities have said.
Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Jennifer Downing said in court that his actions have caused “great pain and agony” for the girl and her family, who have “suffered greatly.” The girl’s father and mother sat in the courtroom but declined to address the judge; the girl was not in attendance.
The judge said Mr. Medina-Lopez’s actions had “a devastating effect” on the victim.
Mr. Medina-Lopez was arrested in March 2014 and confessed to law enforcement. His attorney, Carlos Diaz-Cobo, said in court that that his willingness to cooperate should count in his favor.
A Mercer County grand jury in July indicted him on sexual assault and child endangering charges. Earlier this year, on March 2, he pleaded guilty to third-degree endangering the welfare of a child in return for the Prosecutor’s Office agreeing to recommend a three-year prison term.
Mr. Medina-Lopez has been in the county jail since March 2014, and received 451 days jail credit. Given that he would have been parole eligible after nine months on a three-year prison term, his lawyer asked for the judge to impose a time served sentence, which the judge was inclined to do.
Mr. Diaz-Cobo said he did not want to see Mr. Medina-Lopez held “indefinitely” in the jail waiting for representatives of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to eventually pick him up. The judge offered that he would have his staff monitor the situation by calling the jail weekly to see if Mr. Medina-Lopez were still there.
