Vicente Lopez-Sanchez, 40, an illegal alien from Mexico, was found guilty by a federal jury in Mississippi of assaulting and inflicting serious bodily injury upon a federal law enforcement officer.

The government says on Aug. 2, 2018, Lopez-Sanchez was stopped by an officer with the Brandon Police Department for a traffic violation. The police officer contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a Deportation Officer came to the scene. Once on the scene, Lopez-Sanchez assaulted the ICE Deportation Officer, causing serious bodily injury to the officer.

“Our men and women in law enforcement put themselves in harm’s way every day, and any time someone attacks or harms them, our office will be there to quickly and aggressively prosecute such criminals. This defendant, who has previously broken our nation’s immigration laws multiple times and who should have never been in the country to begin with, is another example of the importance of strong enforcement of our immigration laws and the protection of our nation’s border, so that our citizens and our law enforcement can remain safe,” said U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst.

Lopez-Sanchez has two previous federal felony convictions for smuggling illegal aliens and two previous federal felony convictions for illegal reentry into the United States.

Lopez-Sanchez will be sentenced by Judge Henry Wingate Feb. 18, 2020, and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Brandon Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lynn Murray and Ted Cooperstein.