Immigrant faces prison, deportation for sex with girl, 12

A 32-year-old man who claimed his sexual relationship with a then-12-year-old girl was consensual will serve prison time before facing deportation to Mexico.
Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire sentenced Jeremias Chagala-Mil to 30 years in prison, suspending all but six years.

In November, Chagala-Mil pleaded guilty to rape as part of a plea agreement. Authorities have said Chagala-Mil had sex with the middle-school student several times, and that he wanted to marry her. Her mother discovered the relationship in April 2008.
Defense attorney Richard Davis explained that Chagala-Mil is illiterate in his native Spanish, didn’t pass the first grade and grew up on a sugarcane farm in rural Mexico. The defendant has told authorities that age is not a factor in romantic relationships in his home country.
“He said this young girl, who was 12 at the time, looked like she was sexually mature to him,” said Charlottesville Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Claude Worrell. “He said in Mexico, any girl who looks sexually mature is fair game to have sex with.”
Worrell disputed Chagala-Mil’s belief, saying in court Tuesday that a 12-year-old girl cannot have a consensual relationship with an adult nearly three times her age.

However, Davis said in court that Chagala-Mil had gone out on dates and discussed their relationship with the girl, who is now 13. Chagala-Mil now accepts the relationship has ended.
“I don’t think these people have a future, and he recognizes that,” Davis said in court.
In Charlottesville Circuit Court on Tuesday, Davis noted that the victim did not submit a victim-impact statement, which he said was telling.

Hogshire’s sentence included 20 years of good behavior and will prevent Chagala-Mil from having contact with his victim. Authorities discussed the likelihood of Chagala-Mil returning to the country illegally. Davis said in court that his client was in America less than a year before he was arrested.
Chagala-Mil has been incarcerated since July. Authorities said Tuesday that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed a detainer on Chagala-Mil, which will keep him in custody until the immigration agency decides what to do with him.