Ley Enrique Ortiz-Calleja, age 29, was arguing his case this morning at the Federal Courthouse in downtown St. Pau. Your correspondent was there.
Mr. Ortiz is an early frontrunner for Minnesota Dad of the Week. His story will be difficult to top. He has been indicted on two felony counts out of the federal Northern District of Georgia: 1) for illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien and 2) failure to register as a convicted sex offender.
The indictment was issued on May 13 in Georgia. That same day, the Georgia federal court issued a habeas corpus writ seeking Ortiz at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes. That writ was renewed in July 23.
On July 24, Mr. Ortiz was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals.
Back in 2019, Mr. Ortiz was charged in Steele County (Owatonna), MN, with first degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony. The conduct took place between 2015 and 2017, when Ortiz was aged 19 to 21, and involved his forcing a child (then aged 3 to 5 years old) to perform oral sex on Mr. Ortiz.
He was released on bond and failed to appear for a hearing scheduled in July 2020. At the time, he was recorded as living in Kenyon, MN.
In April 2021, Ortiz pled guilty to 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct, still a felony. Now billed out of Byron, Minnesota, Ortiz was sentenced, after a downward departure, to a stayed sentence of four years. He was to get a total of 1 year in the county jail. The sentence was staggered, with one month in the county workhouse followed by five months out. This arrangement was to have continued, off and on, until 2027.
In October 2021, Ortiz was accused of violating probation. His probation was revoked and he was sent to prison to do the original four-year term.
He appealed the revocation of his probation to the state Court of Appeals. He lost.
In the fall of 2024, Ortiz was deported back to Mexico, but returned to the U.S. within a month.
He reports that things didn’t go well south of the border. Ortiz claims to be a Dreamer, brought to America as a small child. He did not assimilate well back in Mexico and claims to have been the victim of a kidnapping while there. Ortiz says that English is his primary language.
Upon re-entering America, Ortiz re-located to the Atlanta area. He did not register as a convicted sex offender in Georgia, as required by state law and required by the conditions of his Minnesota parole.
As some point after his 2019 arrest, Ortiz became a father to a daughter. In court today, Ortiz had his attorney argue for his release back into the community. In the end it was not a close call, and Mr. Ortiz is heading back to Atlanta, and we presume, back to Mexico at some point.