Virginia authorities deemed an illegal migrant accused of raping a woman on a popular hiking trail too incompetent to stand trial.
Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, an illegal migrant arrested in November for allegedly raping a woman along a hiking trail in a Washington, D.C. suburb, was found unfit to stand trial during a court hearing on Tuesday, according to WJLA. The development comes amid a hotly contested gubernatorial race in which cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken center stage.
Law enforcement officers arrested Navarette Romero “just minutes” after he allegedly attacked a woman walking along the popular Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail, the Herndon Police Department confirmed at the time. He was charged with abduction with intent to defile and rape.
“The suspect brazenly grabbed the suspect and forced her to the ground where he proceeded to rape her,” Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard stated at the time of the arrest. “The victim was able to fight off the suspect and run away. It was then she encountered a passerby who called 911 on behalf of that victim.”
Navarette Romero, a Honduran national, had a litany of prior arrests before the alleged rape incident in Herndon, Virginia.
The illegal migrant had been accused of sex crimes in Washington, D.C., resisting arrest in Virginia and D.C. and he’s been charged with battery, assault, using a stolen vehicle, trespassing, drinking and smoking marijuana in public, weapon violations, loitering and indecent exposure, according to documents obtained by 7News. The accused rapist is also allegedly tied to multiple sexual batteries against juveniles in 2017.
During a press conference in November, DeBoard said it was “disturbing” how many times Navarette Romero had been previously arrested and released.
The Honduran national will have a follow-up hearing in December to determine if he has been “restored to competency,” according to WJLA. A spokesperson for the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Immigration enforcement has become a central issue across Virginia as the Trump administration continues its large-scale crackdown on illegal immigration and voters in the state prepare for an off-year election in less than two months. If victorious, Democratic Virginia gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger has vowed to rescind an executive order issued by term-limited GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin that requires law enforcement to cooperate with ICE agents.
Some of the most high-profile illegal migrant attacks have occurred along hiking trails. Rachel Morin was brutally raped and murdered in August 2023 by a Salvadoran illegal migrant while visiting the Ma & Pa Trail in Harford County, Maryland, and Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was killed by a Venezuelan illegal migrant while jogging along a trail in February 2024.
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