Federal authorities said a Maryland church teacher who was charged with child sex crimes last week is a Salvadoran national who has been deported from the U.S. twice before.

Ervin Jeovany Alfaro-Lopez was arrested March 11 in Montgomery County and charged with sexual abuse of a minor in connection to multiple instances between November 2014 and December 2018, authorities said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Mr. Alfaro-Lopez was in the country illegally when he was accused of abusing four girls between the ages of 6 and 12 years old at Elim Misión Cristiana evangelical church in Derwood.

The suspect was first nabbed by Border Patrol in March 2015 near Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to ICE. His case went through the federal immigration courts, and Mr. Alfaro-Lopez was ultimately deported in September 2018.

The agency said he was arrested again in the U.S. in January 2019 and was granted a voluntary departure that same April.

Mr. Alfaro-Lopez was arrested a third time in March 2020. Border Patrol had him deported later in the month.

ICE said it sought to take custody of Mr. Alfaro-Lopez last August after he was arrested on charges of rape and child abuse, but Montgomery County released him two days later.

“This is a perfect example of the level of criminality and level of destruction when folks are recycled back into communities and jurisdictions are not honoring our detainers, very tragic story here,” Darius Reeves, director of ICE’s Baltimore field office, told Fox News affiliate WTTG.

Court documents said Mr. Alfaro-Lopez sexually abused the girls while he worked as an instructor at Elim Misión Cristiana church. One of the victims was the daughter of the church’s pastor.

The filing said the pastor learned of the abuse from his daughter, other parents and eventually from a confession from Mr. Alfaro-Lopez himself.

The suspect is being held without bond in the Montgomery County Detention Center.

The Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Laguna Niguel, California, is seeking to take custody of Mr. Alfaro-Lopez and have him removed from the country once again.

ICE’s Baltimore field office said that process will begin after the suspect is convicted and serves his local sentence.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.