LOS ANGELES (KRON/AP) – Authorities say a man charged with sex crimes against a 14-year-old girl in Santa Clarita is a registered sex offender who was out on immigration bond. The case is expected to add fuel to the heated debate over immigration reform.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday 26-year-old Keane Dean was in deportation proceedings and placed in immigration detention in October after serving time for burglary and indecent exposure.
The agency says Dean was released in April after posting a $10,000 bond granted by an immigration judge.
The Philippines native was arrested in Los Angeles County Wednesday after a missing teenager was found in his garage.
Prosecutors say he pleaded not guilty to two felony sex charges.
The case comes as the father of Kate Steinle testified before Congresss on Tuesday calling on lawmakers to stop releasing illegal immigrants with criminal records.
“We feel strongly that legislation should be discussed, enacted or changed to take these undocumented immigrant felons off our streets for good,” Steinle said at a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Steinle was walking with his daughter along San Francisco’s Pier 14 when she was fatally shot. The suspect, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, is a felon and five-time deportee who was in the U.S. illegally.