BANGOR, Maine — A Canadian man just can’t stay out of the United States even though he has been deported six times since 1978.
Ian Owen Sharpe, 58, of Victoria, British Columbia, agreed Wednesday to be held without bail pending the outcome of his case.
Sharpe was arrested early Feb. 17 after he walked across the Ferry Point Bridge in Calais about 8 p.m. the previous day, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor. He produced no identification but gave his name as Paul Jay Say and a fake Social Security number.
Eventually, Sharpe produced his real identification information, which was hidden under the felt lining in one of his boots, the affidavit says.
After a national records check, it was determined that Sharpe was deported and/or removed from the U.S. seven times between 1978 and 2010. He has been convicted of immigration-related crimes in five different states — North Dakota, Kentucky, Florida, Texas and Maine.
Sharpe was last deported in June 2007. He was last convicted in 2000 in U.S. District Court in Fargo, N.D., for illegal re-entry after deportation and sentenced to eight years in prison.
He was last convicted of the same charge in Maine in 1983. Those court records were not available Wednesday through the electronic document filing system.
If convicted on the new charge, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.