An illegal Honduran migrant has been charged with raping a woman on a popular hiking trail outside Washington, DC just days after he was released from jail on another sex crime charge — and it’s the first sexual assault of that kind in the town for more than a decade, according to authorities.
“This is the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than 12 years as chief of police,” said Herndon, Virginia, police chief Maggie DeBoard in a press conference Tuesday.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin slammed local officials for allowing the serial sex pest to be released back into the community — instead of being turned over to ICE and deported.
“I am heartsick for this victim and outraged that local Fairfax County officials recklessly release violent illegal immigrants who should have been prosecuted and deported,” the Republican told The Post.
“This is a dereliction of their most basic duty to keep people safe. Prioritizing violent illegal immigrants over the safety of Fairfax residents is unacceptable,” he continued — adding that Virginia is not a sanctuary state.
Officers arrested 31-year-old Denis Humberto Navarette Romero Monday on charges of intent to defile and rape.
The suspect is a Honduran national residing in the US illegally, and his rap sheet dates back years, Herndon police say.
Romero was released from jail just four days prior to his arrest Monday at the Washington and Old Dominion Trail about 25 miles west of the capital.
He was freed on Nov. 14 after serving just half his 50-day indecent exposure sentence due to “good behavior,” authorities said.
The victim, who cops say didn’t know her attacker before the assault, was on the busy walking trail when he allegedly grabbed her arm, forced her to the ground and raped her just before 9 p.m. Monday.
After a bystander called for help, cops arrived to the scene and arrested Romero within minutes.
DeBoard, the police chief, told reporters Romero has a history of sexual assaults in town and the surrounding area.
“What is disturbing is the number of times this individual has been arrested and released,” she told reporters. “He has continued to reoffend and his behavior has escalated to a rape in a very public area.”
Romero’s sex crime spree started in 2018, when Herndon PD received a report that the perv fondled a 14-year-old. That triggered a Fairfax County sex crimes investigation, which uncovered that he’d also exposed himself to a 10-year-old and 13-year-old the year prior, per police records obtained by the Washington Post.
But the victims’ parents were loath to talk with police, and the investigation closed with no charges.
His first arrest came four years later, when he choked a Herndon cop responding to another one of his deviant acts — this time, smacking a woman’s behind at a local restaurant.
Herndon police charged him with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, but the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor assault in exchange for a guilty plea.
His most recent stint in the slammer was due to an Oct. 19 indecent exposure incident.
The victim, Jennifer Pugh, spoke to Fox 5 DC about his obscene exhibition, which prompted her to file a police report.
“He kept coming trying to grab my dog. Then he was trying to come after me he was saying stuff. He didn’t speak English and then all of a sudden he started pulling his stuff out,” Pugh told the local outlet. “I said ‘there’s Ring cameras all around, you know’ and he didn’t care.”
The pest is now being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center as he awaits a preliminary hearing.
Police records show that inconsistent spellings of the suspect’s name in his string of arrests have complicated their efforts to piece together his extensive criminal past. At least three versions of the name have been traced back to the FBI number and fingerprints of the suspect cops arrested Monday, the Washington Post reported.
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s office says it notifies ICE each time they arrest an undocumented individual, but the department’s lawyer told The Washington Post that of the four times Romero has been in their custody they never received a detainer or warrant from the agency.
DeBoard lamented the failure of the justice system and the fear this stokes in the community in a local interview.
“It’s frustrating because I tell the community you should feel safe here and I do believe they are safe here, I truly do, but when you have cases like this, I look at this and see some part of the system… if it was all working together, if there was a way to make it work, this never would have happened,” the chief said, adding that no single party to the process is to blame.
Gov. Youngkin said the silver lining is that the policies that allowed Navarette Romero to run amok in the community won’t fly come 2025.
“When President Trump takes office, the political posturing will end and localities will cooperate with ICE to protect Virginians,” Youngkin said.