An illegal immigrant with an extensive criminal history has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman on a popular Virginia trail just four days after he was released from jail for another offense, local authorities say.
Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, a 31-year-old Honduran immigrant, was charged with abduction with intent to defile and rape a stranger on the evening of November 18, the Herndon Police Department said. Romero is accused of pulling a woman behind the bushes and raping her on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Herndon, a Virginia town in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
“Let me start by saying that I am incredibly saddened and outraged that a crime like this could happen here in the town of Herndon,” local police chief Maggie DeBoard said last Monday, according to media reports. “This is the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than twelve years as chief of police.”
Romero, who resides in the U.S. illegally, has been accused of numerous crimes: assaults, battery, trespassing, using a stolen vehicle, weapon violations, drinking and smoking marijuana in public, loitering, and indecent exposure. Though he has been arrested multiple times, Romero has been released each time and has never served any significant time in jail that would prevent him from committing another criminal offense.
His documented criminal history involving sexual assaults and indecent exposure in Herndon and the wider D.C.-Virginia region dates back to 2022, according to DeBoard. The police chief also said Romero had been accused of sexual battery against several juveniles back in 2017.
Unemployed and homeless, Romero receives government benefits. He is currently being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
The rape was initially reported by local media and later picked up by national outlets, such as the New York Post. The story has since caught the attention of top Virginia officials, including governor Glenn Youngkin.
“I am heartsick for this victim and outraged that local Fairfax County officials recklessly release violent illegal immigrants who should have been prosecuted and deported. This is a dereliction of their most basic duty to keep people safe,” Youngkin said on X.
The Republican governor declared the commonwealth is not a “sanctuary state” and expressed optimism for president-elect Donald Trump’s plans to deport illegal immigrants en masse once he enters the White House in January.
Additionally, Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares called on local authorities to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and share their information on illegal immigrants with criminal histories in Fairfax County.
He called it “unconscionable” that such an “unspeakable act of violence” could occur on a trail that so many Virginians use each day.
“This needs to end, and it breaks down when you have local leaders that decide they’re not going to cooperate with federal authorities,” Miyares said. “They’re playing politics with people’s safety.”