An illegal Honduran immigrant has been accused of raping a woman on a popular hiking trail outside Washington, D.C., just days after he was released from prison on charges of other sex crimes — the first such sexual assault in the city in more than a year. The past decade, according to authorities.
“This is the only bizarre rape we've had in town in more than 12 years as police chief,” Herndon, Virginia, Police Chief Maggie DeBord said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin criticized local officials for allowing this serial sex scourge to be released back into the community — instead of turning her over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deporting her.
“I am deeply saddened for this victim and deeply angry that local Fairfax County officials released violent illegal immigrants who should have been prosecuted and deported,” the Republican told The Washington Post.
“This is a dereliction of their basic duty of keeping people safe. “Prioritizing violent illegal immigrants over the safety of Fairfax residents is unacceptable,” he continued, adding that Virginia is not a sanctuary state.
Officers arrested 31-year-old Dennis Humberto Navarrete Romero on Monday on charges of desecration intent and rape.
Herndon police say the suspect is a Honduran citizen residing in the United States illegally, and his record dates back years.
Romero was released from jail just four days before his arrest Monday at Washington and Old Dominion roads, about 25 miles west of D.C.
Authorities said he was released on November 14 after serving only half of his 50-day indignity sentence for “good behavior.”
The victim, who police say did not know her attacker before the attack, was on the busy walking path when he grabbed her arm, forced her to the ground and raped her just before 9pm on Monday.
After a passerby called for help, police arrived at the scene and arrested Romero within minutes.
Debord, the police chief, told reporters that Romero had a history of sexual assaults in the city and surrounding area.
“What is concerning is the number of times this person has been arrested and released,” she told reporters. “He continued to reoffend and his behavior escalated to the point of rape in a very public area.”
Romero's sex crime spree began in 2018, when the Herndon Police Department received a report that a pervert had fondled a 14-year-old. That led to a Fairfax County sex crimes investigation, which revealed he had also exposed himself to two 10-year-olds and a 13-year-old the previous year, according to police records obtained by The Washington Post.
But the victims' families were reluctant to talk to the police, and the investigation was closed without any charges being brought.
His first arrest came four years later, when he choked a Herndon police officer in response to another of his deviant acts — this time, hitting a woman's buttocks at a local restaurant.
Herndon police charged him with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, but the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney downgraded the charge to misdemeanor assault in exchange for the guilty plea.
His last stint as a knockout was due to an indecent exposure incident on October 19.
The victim, Jennifer Pugh, told Fox 5 DC about her obscene display, which prompted her to file a police report.
“He kept coming in trying to catch my dog. Then he was trying to chase me and he was saying things. He wasn’t speaking English and then all of a sudden he started taking his stuff out,” Pugh told the local outlet. “I told him, ‘There are Ring cameras everywhere, you know, and he didn’t “Cares.”
Pest is now being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center where he awaits a preliminary hearing.
Inconsistent spelling of the suspect's name in a string of arrests complicated their efforts to piece together his extensive criminal past, police records show. At least three versions of the name were traced back to the FBI number and fingerprints of the suspected cops arrested Monday, The Washington Post reported.
The Fairfax County Sheriff's Office says it notifies ICE every time they arrest an undocumented person, but a lawyer for the department told The Washington Post that of the four times Romero was in their custody, they never received a detainer or arrest warrant from the agency.
Debord lamented the failure of the judicial system and the fear it creates in society in a local interview.
“It's frustrating because I tell the community they should feel safe here and I think they're safe here, I really believe that, but when you have cases like this, I look at this and I see part of the system…if it was the whole thing,” the president said. If we worked together, if there was a way to make it work, this would never have happened,” he said, adding that no party was to blame for the operation.
The silver lining is that the policies that allowed Navarrete Romero to corrupt society will not fly by 2025, Gov. Youngkin said.
“When President Trump takes office, political posturing will end and localities will cooperate with ICE to protect Virginians,” Youngkin said.
