Honduran migrants accused of rape were arrested for sex crimes and released several times

HERNDON, Va. – Another woman says she was attacked by the same man accused of raping a woman on a popular hiking trail in downtown Herndon.

Police said Tuesday they believed the suspect, Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, had additional victims. He is described as a repeat offender with a disturbing history.

Romero, a Honduran citizen living illegally in the U.S., has a documented history of sexual assault and indecent exposure in the region dating back to 2022, according to Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard.

Romero has been arrested and released several times. He choked a Herndon police officer in June 2022 when they responded to a groping incident and was later released.

Police Chief Maggie Deboard says they charged him with assault on a law enforcement officer, but the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney downgraded the charge to simple assault – a misdemeanor.

“I mean, he literally tried to put his hands around our officer’s neck and choke him, so we don’t understand that,” DeBoard said.

Romero was taken into custody again on October 19 for indecent exposure and was sentenced to 50 days behind bars, but he was released 25 days earlier, on November 14, under a Virginia “good behavior law.”

Just four days later, he was arrested for raping a woman on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Herndon.

Jennifer Pugh was the woman who reported the incident to police after he followed her home before revealing himself.

“He kept coming to grab my dog. Then he tried to come after me, he was saying things. He didn’t speak English and then all of a sudden he started getting his stuff out,” Pugh told FOX 5. said ‘there are Ring cameras, you know’ and he didn’t care.”

ICE has not yet confirmed whether they were notified of Romero’s presence in the country following these incidents.

He was transferred to the custody of the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office for both. The sheriff’s website states that their policy is that “ICE is notified each time an undocumented immigrant is taken into our custody.”

“It’s frustrating because I tell the community you should feel safe here and I do believe they are safe here, I really believe that, but when you have cases like this, I look at this and see if some of it system… whether it is.” all working together, if there was a way to make it work, this would never have happened,” DeBoard said. “I don’t think you can point the finger at one place to blame because it’s a conglomeration of problems.”

The sheriff says everyone involved at the adult detention center will be fingerprinted and those prints will be turned over to the Commonwealth, which will then submit them to federal law enforcement agencies.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney did not explain their decision to reduce the charges, but said he was prosecuted for the incident and served jail time as a result.