Romanian National Charged with Illegally Reentering U.S.

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that IOAN ROSTAS, 36, a citizen of Romania, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with illegally reentering the United States after being deported.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, in March 2023, Rostas, who was in immigration removal proceedings in New York and placed into the Alternative to Detention ("ATD") program, absconded from the ATD program. In September 2023, an immigration judge ordered Rostas removed from the U.S. to Romania in absentia. In October 2023, law enforcement in Berkeley County, West Virginia, arrested Rostas, who was using a false identity, and charged him with obstructing an officer. On October 25, 2023, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Pennsylvania arrested Rostas pursuant to a previously lodged ICE detainer. He was removed from the U.S. on November 17, 2023.

It is further alleged that on April 26, 2026, police in Manchester, Connecticut, encountered Rostas sitting in a parked vehicle that law enforcement in Georgia had been seeking in connection to group that had been committing retail thefts along the east coast of the U.S. Rostas initially provided an officer with a forged international license bearing someone else's name, and a search of the vehicle revealed a second forged international license with another person's name, a large amount of new clothing with tags and security devices still attached, and 10 bottles of perfume with "tester" stickers attached. Rostas was arrested and charged with state forgery, larceny, interfering with an officer, and criminal impersonation offenses. He was later released on bond and turned over to ICE in Hartford pursuant to an ICE detainer.

Rostas, who has been detained since his arrest, appeared yesterday in Hartford federal court.

If convicted of the charge of unlawful reentry, Rostas faces a maximum term of imprisonment of two years.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.