An illegal immigrant rapist from El Salvador has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for unlawfully re-entering the United States after multiple deportations.
Melvin Alexander Orellana-Martinez, 54, was sentenced to 60 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns. This federal sentence is to run concurrently with a 17-to-21-year state prison term he is currently serving in Massachusetts for several serious offenses, including multiple counts of aggravated rape, kidnapping, and witness intimidation, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
Earlier this summer, a federal prosecutor described Orellana-Martinez as a repeat immigration offender who helped gangs smuggle drugs into the United States and while here committed theft and rape.
Orellana-Martinez was convicted of raping a woman in Chelsea, where according to court documents city police said he “forced the victim into a van as she left work, dragged her by her hair into his apartment,” and raped her twice in May 2006. He then, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in July 2024 by a federal prosecutor, “threatened to kill the victim and her family or have them deported if she reported the incident to police.” He was charged in 2006 with these crimes, but according to the federal prosecutor’s sentencing memorandum he defaulted on them in 2007 — meaning he did not show up in court for trial.
As for the federal immigration case, in April 2024, Orellana-Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful re-entry of a deported alien. This charge stemmed from his illegal re-entry into the United States after being deported.
Between July 2007 and January 2020, Orellana-Martinez was removed from the United States on eight separate occasions. Additionally, he was convicted in federal courts in California and Texas on five separate occasions between February 2008 and March 2019 for illegal re-entry or improper entry.
Orellana-Martinez’s most recent deportation occurred on January 14, 2020. However, he re-entered the United States illegally sometime after this deportation. Federal immigration authorities became aware of his unlawful re-entry on January 6, 2023, when he was arrested on state charges unrelated to his illegal entrance into the country.
The prosecution’s sentencing memorandum says Orellana-Martinez was convicted in 2023 of receipt of a stolen motor vehicle, providing false identification to law enforcement, and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license. As of July 2024, he was awaiting trial in state court in Massachusetts on multiple accounts of aggravated rape, kidnapping, and witness intimidation — for which, according to federal authorities, he was convicted.
Previously, Orellana-Martinez was arrested on charges of assault and battery in 1995, in 1998, and twice in 2002. He was arrested on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer in 1998. He was arrested on a charge of violation of an abuse prevention order in 2005.
A defense lawyer representing Orellana-Martinez in the federal immigration case said in a sentencing memorandum that his client “first came to the United States 35 years ago, fleeing the dangers he faced in El Salvador, a dangerous and impoverished country for any person, but a particularly dangerous place for Mr. Orellana, who, at a young age, began working for the U.S.-backed Salvadoran army during the Salvadoran civil war.”
“He has been repeatedly subject to violence and threats because of his association with the Salvadoran army,” states the defense sentencing memorandum, dated July 9, 2024.
The defense memorandum also states:
Mr. Orellana grew up poor in El Salvador. He never knew his birth father and was raised by his mother, who suffered from mental illness and was abusive towards Mr. Orellana. Mr. Orellana only attended school through the first grade and started working at a young age, helping his step-father carrying suitcases and bags for people at the El Tamarindo Market. At 12, as a means to escape his poverty, he joined the army as an assistant to military officers. By 15, he was being trained by an American company at an army base in San Miguel. He became a military police officer and then later a member of the infantry.
Mr. Orellana first came to US because, as a veteran of the Salvadoran army, he was frequently targeted for violence in his country. Mr. Orellana served in the Salvadoran army during the Salvadoran Civil War and was trained by American specialists, and that made him a target. In late 1989, he was captured by FMLN, the insurgent group on the other side of the Salvadoran civil war. They tied Mr. Orellana up and took him to a FMLN controlled house. Mr. Orellana was let go after telling FMLN he would assist them in getting guns from the military. After being released from FMLN, Mr. Orellana went back to Salvadoran army but they were suspicious of him and how he managed to escape the FMLN. Government soldiers covered Mr. Orellana’s eyes, beat him, and kicked him. He fled his country for the first time after these events, fearing he would be killed either by the FMLN or by the Salvadoran army.
When he got to the United States, Orellana-Martinez went to work for a cousin who was a plumber, and he eventually opened his own plumbing business, “which is still operational and being managed by his ex-wife,” the defense sentencing memorandum states.
He has two sons born in the United States who live in Chelsea, ages 21 and 23, as well as an 11-year-old son who lives in New York, from a relationship with a different woman.
“His roots in this country are deep,” the defense sentencing memorandum states.
Federal authorities say Orellana-Martinez is scheduled to serve his long sentence in state prison on the rape and kidnapping convictions, then serve time in federal prison for the immigration conviction, then be deported back to El Salvador.
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