EXCLUSIVE TO FOX — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed to Fox News Digital that a Mexican national, linked to a series of rapes spanning a decade in Indiana, has a history of criminal convictions and has been detained twice by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Leonel Catalan-Torreblanca, who entered the U.S. unlawfully, was taken into custody on April 22. He is now facing a staggering 30 charges that encompass rape, sexual battery, criminal confinement, kidnapping, strangulation, and burglary.
ICE has issued an immigration detainer, requesting that Indiana authorities refrain from releasing him from custody.
According to DHS, Catalan-Torreblanca’s criminal record includes convictions for soliciting prostitution, voyeurism, and several instances of driving under the influence.
Leonel Catalan-Torreblanca, who has a criminal background and is illegally residing in the U.S. from Mexico, had prior arrests by ICE during both the Obama and Biden administrations. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
The specifics of his initial illegal entry into the United States remain unknown. However, records indicate that ICE apprehended him in 2012, after which he was released during the Obama era.
ICE arrested Catalan-Torreblanca again in 2017, and he voluntarily returned to Mexico in 2018.
He then illegally re-entered the U.S., a felony, in 2023 under the Biden administration, according to DHS.
Officials hosted a news conference Wednesday, when they unveiled the new charges. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department)
The string of alleged sexual assaults spanned from March 2013 to January 2024, Fox News Digital previously reported.
While local and federal investigators previously linked the attacks through DNA left at the crime scenes, they lacked a suspect match because Catalan-Torreblanca’s DNA was not entered into any federal databases, officials said.
The case was finally cracked when an ICE DNA swab was entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, triggering a direct match that led to his swift arrest.
The suspect was previously arrested by ICE but released under the Obama administration. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“Thanks to the incredible work of the men and women of federal law enforcement, this demented rapist’s ten-year crime spree is over. He is now facing 30 charges including rape, sexual battery, criminal confinement, kidnapping, strangulation, and burglary,” said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis. “ICE is asking Indiana officials to hand him over to ICE custody. Indiana cooperates with ICE, so we will be able to work together to get him off our streets and out of our country.”
“Under President [Donald] Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the United States,” Bis added.
