Sex Offender Arrested In Warwick DUI To Be Jailed And Deported

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Guatemalan national and convicted rapist was sentenced this week to 30 months in federal prison, thanks in large part to the work of the Warwick Police Department.

Manuel Pablo Alonzo, 37, also known as Manuel Pablo, on January 5 pleaded guilty to charges that he re-entered the U.S. illegally after deportation and failed to register as a sex offender. Alonzo will once again face deportation proceedings following completion of his prison sentence.

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The new charges stem from a Jan. 3, 2020 traffic stop in Warwick. Police on that night got calls about an erratic driver in a red Toyota Corolla, and saw the car cross into the oncoming lane on Warwick Avenue. During a subsequent traffic stop, Alonzo, who appeared intoxicated and had open bottles of alcohol in his possession, gave police a fake name, a police report states. He failed a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer. He was placed under arrest and charged with DUI.

Warwick Police Department

Back at the station, when police ran the suspect's fingerprints, they realized he was the same man convicted of participating in two brutal rapes in the city nearly two decades ago, Warwick Police Detective Matthew Smith told Patch. The Department of Homeland Security was notified and charges were filed in federal court.

In 2003, Alonzo was among those who gang raped two women in separate incidents on the same night, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. One of the victims was stabbed. Alonzo was arrested following an investigation by Warwick Police and tried by jury in Kent County Superior Court. He was convicted in March 2005 on four counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count of kidnapping. He was sentenced to a state prison term, released in 2014, and deported to Guatemala. It's not clear at what point he returned to the United States.

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Alonzo’s sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy, was announced by Acting United States Attorney Richard B. Myrus, United States Marshal Wing Chau, Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker, and Warwick Police Chief Colonel Bradford Connor.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Zechariah Chafee.