Diego Rodriguez-Ordonez, 24, was arrested twice in a single day in Putnam County, New York, after allegedly robbing a convenience store and later forcibly touching a woman on a Metro-North train.
The Brewster resident now faces multiple charges spanning two separate incidents that unfolded within roughly 18 hours on Wednesday, with authorities confirming through the Department of Homeland Security that he is in the United States illegally and has accumulated 17 arrests over the past two years.
DHS disclosed Friday that Rodriguez-Ordonez was first encountered by Border Patrol on December 11, 2018, in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and was subsequently released from ICE custody in March 2021 during the Biden administration. A DHS spokesperson detailed his extensive record in a statement to The Post, noting that ICE lodged a detainer for him on September 30.
“On September 30, ICE lodged a detainer for Diego Dilan Rodriguez-Ordonez, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, whose lengthy rap sheet includes convictions for multiple sex offenses, trespassing, and disorderly conduct, and pending charges for sexual assault, possession of stolen property, assault, larceny, burglary, crimes against a person, dangerous drugs, fraud, and property crimes,” the spokesperson wrote.
The spokesperson added a pointed political message: “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US.”
The first arrest came at approximately 3:05 a.m. Wednesday, when Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputies assisting Kent Police found Rodriguez-Ordonez hiding in a swampy area near a gas station where the robbery and assault had occurred. He was charged with robbery and assault in that incident, plus felony criminal mischief connected to a separate matter at a nearby bank.
Putnam County Sheriff Brian Hess expressed frustration that someone with such a record remained at large. “It’s definitely upsetting that he’s out here assaulting our citizens – arrested that same day within 24 hours of being released the day earlier – and looking at his history of 17 arrests in the last two years you wonder how this guy can still be out there hurting our people,” Hess told The Post.
The second arrest came approximately 18 hours later, at around 9:09 p.m., when Putnam County 911 dispatched deputies to the Southeast train station. A woman reported being touched by a man aboard a train and then groped by the same individual on the platform. Officers located Rodriguez-Ordonez near the train yard, where they deployed a Taser after he refused repeated commands and resisted arrest. Notably, he was wearing an ankle monitor issued to him earlier that day.
He was charged with forcible touching, obstructing, resisting arrest and criminal trespass, all misdemeanors, in connection with the train station incident. He was arraigned in Southeast Justice Court, where bail was set at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond.
Assemblyman Matt Slater, a Republican representing Putnam, seized on the case to attack state immigration policies. “Not only was this individual arrested twice in 18 hours, but he has been arrested 16 times since 2024 with eight criminal convictions. This after he was deported in 2018,” Slater fumed in his statement to The Post. “This highlights the exact problem with Albany’s failed sanctuary policies that protect criminals, create more victims and provide a safe haven for illegal immigration.”
Slater continued: “There is no excuse for this individual to be terrorizing our community. He should be held to the fullest extent of the law, including deportation.”
Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne drew a sharp distinction between his jurisdiction and sanctuary jurisdictions elsewhere in the state. “We respect the rule of law, support our law enforcement officers, and cooperate with our federal, state, and local partners to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,” Byrne said. He added that “sanctuary policies that block that cooperation undermine public safety” and insisted that “public safety should come before politics.”
Byrne was adamant about his county’s stance: “Putnam County is not a sanctuary county, and it never will be under my leadership.”
The case has intensified political debate over New York’s sanctuary policies, with Republican officials using Rodriguez-Ordonez’s rapid-fire arrests to argue that current laws hamper cooperation between local and federal immigration authorities.
Rodriguez-Ordonez remains in custody following his arraignment, with bail set and the various charges against him pending in multiple jurisdictions.