U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Severin Bombu, a 35-year-old Romanian national, to 18 months in federal prison for illegal reentry into the United States. Bombu entered a guilty plea on November 18, 2024.
Court documents reveal that Bombu is a citizen of Romania who had been deported from the United States on three separate occasions: November 16, 2018, December 20, 2023, and March 2, 2024. He was discovered back in the U.S. voluntarily on November 1, 2024, when he was arrested in Marion County due to an outstanding grand theft warrant. Authorities confirmed that Bombu had not sought or received permission from either the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security to return to the country.
The investigation into this case was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). The prosecution was led by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg.