HARDIN — A 37-year-old man originally charged with solicitation and grooming in Calhoun County saw the charges transferred to federal court.
Orlin Guevara-Ulloa, 37, of Richland, Washington, who later was determined to be in the U.S. illegally after being deported twice, originally was charged by Calhoun County State’s Attorney’s Office on March 31 with grooming, indecent solicitation of a child and solicitation to meet a child, all felonies.
He was indicted April 21 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois for illegal reentry after deportation.
A superseding indictment on June 2 added a count of attempted enticement of a minor.
According to Calhoun County court documents, prosecutors filed a June 23 “motion for nolle prosequi,” meaning they were dropping the prosecution of the local case because Guevara-Ulloa has been charged in federal court.
According to court documents and Calhoun County Sheriff Zach Hardin, the sheriff’s department received information March 30 from Online Predator Intervention, a civilian organization specializing in “stings” of child predators, that a man — later identified as Guevara-Ulloa — was attempting to solicit sex with a 13-year-old Hardin resident.
Calhoun and Pike County law enforcement officers began coordinating efforts and, about 11:30 p.m. that evening, the suspect’s vehicle was found and officers conducted a traffic stop on South Park Street near French Street in Hardin.
The original federal indictment came after an ICE investigation into Guevara-Ulloa.
According to court documents, he is from Honduras and was deported in both 2012 and 2018.
In a statement on the Zach Hardin for Calhoun County Sheriff Facebook Page, Hardin noted penalties for the federal sex offense are “understandably serious.”
“With a range of 10 years to life imprisonment, and mandatory registration as a sex offender,” he said on the post. “Hopefully the severity of this indictment can serve as a deterrent to any possible offender out there.”
