Derwood church teacher who assaulted young girls was deported twice, charged with multiple sex crimes: ICE

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - A church teacher accused of sexually abusing multiple young girls in his congregation in Montgomery County was twice deported from the U.S. and was in the country illegally at the time of the assaults, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Ervin Jeovany Alfaro Lopez was arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor on Monday, March 11. 

Alfaro Lopez is a citizen of El Salvador. He was first arrested by U.S. Border Patrol near Lake Charles, Louisiana, on March 23, 2015, after having unlawfully entered the U.S. He was issued a notice to appear before a federal judge and was released on bond on April 1, 2015. He was ordered to report to a Department of Justice immigration judge in Baltimore and was subsequently removed from the U.S. on Sep. 26, 2018.

Alfaro-Lopez was re-arrested in the U.S. on Jan. 23, 2019. He was granted a voluntary departure from the U.S. within 60 days of April 16, 2019, and left the U.S. on April 30, 2019.

On March 9, 2020, Alfaro-Lopez was caught by Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas after he came back into the country illegally. USBP processed him for expedited removal, and he was deported on March 24, 2020.

ICE says it’s not known when Alfaro-Lopez re-entered the U.S. but he was arrested by Montgomery County police on Aug. 9, 2023, and charged him with rape second-degree, and two counts of sex offense third degree. 

The same day, an Immigration Detainer was issued against Alfaro-Lopez but according to ICE, the Montgomery County Detention Center refused to honor the order and Alfaro-Lopez was released from custody on August 11, 2023.

RELATED: Montgomery County church teacher charged with sexually abusing multiple minors

"This is a perfect example of the level of criminality and level of destruction when folks are recycled back into communities and jurisdictions are not honoring our detainers, very tragic story here," said ERO Baltimore Field Office Director Darius Reeves. 

"Counties cannot continuously recycle gang members with guns, child molesters, rapists, accessory to murders, you cannot continuously allow that to happen," he added. "Please stop recycling these egregious offenders back into your communities and to not honor an ice detainer in my opinion is an obstruction of federal law enforcement efforts."

On Sep. 7, 2023, a Montgomery County Circut court amended the charges against Alfaro-Lopez to reflect six counts of sex offense third degree, one count of sex abuse of a minor, and five counts of sex offense second-degree for a total of 12 counts of sexual assault with dates beginning in Nov. 22, 2014. 

Alfaro-Lopez was once again taken into custody on March 11 and additionally charged with five counts of sex abuse of a minor and eight counts of third-degree sex offense for a total of 13 counts for offenses from March 19, 2016 to Dec. 3, 2018. 

According to court documents, the offenses from 2016-2018 occurred at the Elim Misión Cristiana church in the 15700 block of Crabbs Branch Way where Alfaro-Lopez was reportedly working as an instructor and educational coordinator. 

The charging documents state that during this time Alfaro-Lopez abused at least four girls between the ages of 6 and 12 years old, one of whom was the daughter of the church pastor. He was 25–27 years old at the time of the assaults. 

The documents state that the church pastor was made aware of the abuse — by his own daughter, the parents of the other victims and through a confession from Alfaro-Lopez himself. 

One victim’s father told investigators that he spoke to the pastor and believed that "the incident had been handled inside the church" and his daughter told investigators that Alfaro-Lopez had "got in trouble and wasn't allowed to teach anymore."

The victims reported that the abuse often happened when students were praying with their eyes closed and that Alfaro-Lopez touched them both over and under their clothing.

Alfaro-Lopez is being held without bond in the Montgomery County Detention Center. 

Pacific Enforcement Response Center (PERC) in Laguna Niguel, California lodged an Immigration Detainer and Warrant of Removal against Alfaro-Lopez with the Montgomery County Detention Center. ERO Baltimore will seek to take custody of Alfaro-Lopez after he has served his local sentence."