MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – A man, who was in the United States illegally and was convicted of raping a woman in Madison, was sentenced for unlawful reentry by a removed alien.

According the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jose Rigoberto Mejia-Cubias, of El Salvador, was sentenced on August 6, 2025, to 24 months in federal prison. Prosecutors said he will serve his federal prison sentence consecutively to the 25-year sentence for his sexual battery conviction in the Madison County Circuit Court.

Madison police responded to a call around 1:00 a.m. on January 30, 2025, about a woman who had been raped at Fernando’s. The caller stated that she had gone to the restaurant the night before and sat at the bar.

According to investigators, the woman indicated that her assailant was the bartender. She said she did not remember everything that happened, but she woke up on the floor of the bar area around midnight, left the premises and called police.

The Madison County District Attorney’s Office said the owners of Fernando’s assisted law enforcement by providing the surveillance footage from the restaurant that showed the female victim sitting in the bar area after the restaurant closed speaking with the bartender. Prosecutors said the woman then passed out, and the bartender moved her from a barstool to the floor. They said he proceeded to have sexual intercourse with the victim while she was unconscious.

Cubias was indicted four days later, on February 3, 2025, for sexual battery of a physically helpless person.

According to prosecutors, Mejia-Cubias had previously been removed from the United States to El Salvador on August 26, 2010. He was charged with both federal and state crimes, and he later pled guilty to the state and federal charges.