CINCINNATI - A 27-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala who caused a head-on collision that injured a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital nurse pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to illegally reentering the United States after a prior deportation, the Department of Justice announced.
Johan Perez-Ventura was deported from the United States in February 2019 near Houston, Texas. He was found by law enforcement in Butler County, Ohio, in November 2025 after driving left of center and colliding with another vehicle. He was convicted at the local level in May 2026 of aggravated vehicular assault and sentenced to 54 months in prison.
Perez-Ventura’s criminal record extends well beyond the crash. He had been convicted of assault and two separate convictions for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs — one in September 2023 and another in October 2024 — before the head-on collision that injured the nurse.
Illegally reentering the United States is a federal crime punishable by up to two years in prison. Perez-Ventura entered the guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Jeffery P. Hopkins. United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Dominick S. Gerace II and Kevin Raycroft, acting field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Detroit Field Office, announced the plea. Assistant United States Attorney Danielle E. Margeaux is representing the United States in the case.
The DOJ said the prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America, “a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”
Perez-Ventura faces up to two years in federal prison on the reentry charge in addition to the 54-month state sentence he is already serving for aggravated vehicular assault. Federal sentencing has not yet been scheduled.