By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -A Mexican man who prosecutors say briefly evaded arrest with the help of a Wisconsin judge has agreed to plead guilty to illegally entering the United States.
Federal prosecutors in Milwaukee on Monday filed a plea agreement with Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, resolving an illegal reentry charge filed against him after federal agents had sought his arrest at a Milwaukee courthouse on April 18.
On that date, he appeared before Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in a battery case, and prosecutors have alleged Dugan misdirected the agents and escorted Flores-Ruiz to a side exit to help him escape. The officers caught him outside the courthouse.
The judge was later indicted on charges of obstruction and concealing a person wanted for arrest. She has pleaded not guilty.
Flores-Ruiz is slated to appear for a plea hearing on August 4. He faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison and agreed to be deported after his sentence, according to the plea agreement.
His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Dugan declined to comment.
The case against Dugan came after the U.S. Justice Department under Republican President Donald Trump vowed to investigate local officials who impede the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
According to the plea agreement, Flores-Ruiz was deported in 2013 after he first entered the United States, then illegally reentered the country.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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