Diego Rodriguez-Ordonez

Introduction

Diego Rodriguez-Ordonez is a 24-year-old from Brewster, New York, who was arrested twice within an 18-hour span in Putnam County in late September 2026 — first for the armed robbery of a Kent gas station and the assault of a clerk who tried to stop him, and again the same evening for the alleged forcible touching of a woman aboard a Metro-North train and on the platform at the Southeast station. Between the two arrests he was released from custody, and he was wearing an ankle monitor issued to him earlier that day when deputies caught up with him the second time. The US Department of Homeland Security says he is a Guatemalan national living in the country illegally with a lengthy criminal record, and ICE lodged a detainer against him while the new charges were pending.

Background Information

According to a DHS spokesperson, Border Patrol encountered Rodriguez-Ordonez in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, on December 11, 2018, and he was released from ICE custody in March 2021 under the Biden administration. DHS says his record 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. Putnam County Sheriff Brian Hess told the New York Post his office counted 17 arrests in the last two years, and state Assemblyman Matt Slater put the figure at 16 arrests since 2024 with eight criminal convictions, adding that Rodriguez-Ordonez had been deported in 2018.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The charges described here are criminal charges filed in New York courts, and Rodriguez-Ordonez is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The account below is drawn from statements by the Kent Police Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and DHS as reported by the New York Post, Mid Hudson News and News 12 Connecticut; no trial has occurred and no pleas have been reported. His prior convictions, as described by DHS and local officials, are government statements about his record.

The first arrest came at approximately 3:05 a.m. on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. Sheriff’s deputies assisting Kent Police located Rodriguez-Ordonez hiding in a swampy area near a Sinclair gas station on Route 52, where he had allegedly stolen merchandise and assaulted the store clerk who tried to stop him. He was charged by Kent Police with robbery and assault, and with felony criminal mischief in connection with a separate incident at a nearby bank. He was released from custody later that day.

At approximately 9:09 p.m. that evening, Putnam County 911 dispatched deputies to the Metro-North Southeast train station after a woman reported being touched by a man aboard her train and then groped by the same individual on the platform. Deputies located Rodriguez-Ordonez near the train yard, where a Taser was deployed after he refused repeated commands and resisted arrest. According to the sheriff’s department, he was wearing an ankle monitor that had been issued to him earlier that day. He was charged with forcible touching, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and criminal trespass — all misdemeanors — and arraigned in the Southeast Justice Court, where bail was set at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Sheriff Brian Hess made the double arrest a public statement about the revolving door: “Two arrests. Two victims. Eighteen hours. This individual was back on our streets just hours after his first arrest. This type of predatory behavior has no place in Putnam County.” He told the New York Post it was “definitely upsetting that he’s out here assaulting our citizens,” asking how someone with 17 arrests in two years “can still be out there hurting our people.”

A DHS spokesperson said ICE lodged a detainer on September 30 for “Diego Dilan Rodriguez-Ordonez, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala,” adding: “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences.” Assemblyman Slater said the facts “prove the flawed system we live under in New York,” blaming Albany’s sanctuary policies, and argued he “should be held to the fullest extent of the law, including deportation.” Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne said the county “is not a sanctuary county, and it never will be under my leadership.”

Current Status

Rodriguez-Ordonez was in custody on bail set at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond after his arraignment, facing the Kent robbery, assault and felony criminal mischief charges and the misdemeanor counts from the train incident, with an ICE detainer lodged against him on September 30. The new charges are unadjudicated and he is presumed innocent; no trial date has been reported. DHS separately lists pending charges from earlier alleged conduct — including sexual assault and burglary — alongside his prior convictions. The sheriff said neither victim from the September 30 incidents was seriously injured.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 24, Rodriguez-Ordonez’s record now carries a second open criminal case stacked on the prior convictions and pending charges described by DHS, plus an ICE detainer that places his removal proceedings alongside his local prosecution regardless of how the Putnam County charges resolve. The case became a flashpoint in New York’s sanctuary-policy debate within a day: the sheriff, a state assemblyman and the county executive all used the 18-hour turnaround — arrest, release, arrest — as their evidence, and the story ran nationally with the DHS statement attached. The ankle monitor issued the morning of his first arrest did not prevent the second arrest the same night.

Sources

New York Post, “Illegal immigrant with long rap sheet arrested twice in one day in NY — pols slam state’s ‘failed sanctuary policies’,” October 2, 2026 — source
Mid Hudson News, “Brewster man arrested twice in one day,” October 2, 2026 — source
News 12 Connecticut (Cole McDonnell), “Brewster man arrested twice in one day after robbery, forcible touching incidents,” October 2, 2026 — source