RUMFORD – Barring a plea arrangement in the next two months, a Rumford man accused of illegally re-entering the country after having been deported could either be jailed or deported again if he’s convicted.

The government’s case against Mexican national Roberto Gonzalez-Leal, 32, is scheduled for trial immediately after jury selection on the morning of Feb. 4 in U.S. District Court in Portland. Judge George Z. Singal is presiding.

Gonzalez-Leal has been incarcerated in Cumberland County Jail in Portland since Nov. 26. That’s when a U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement agent arrested him in Rumford on a charge of re-entering the country after having been deported on Feb. 9, 2007, in El Paso, Texas.

According to his mother-in-law, Linda Ruffin of Rumford, immigration first took Gonzalez-Leal into custody in January 2007.

Ruffin said Gonzalez-Leal, a carpenter and roofer from Guamuchil, Sinaloa, Mexico, entered the country 12 years ago with several Mexican aliens.

“These friends persuaded him to run (marijuana) for them,” Ruffin said last week. “Roberto was caught with one pound of marijuana and charged with drug trafficking. Roberto admitted his guilt and paid all fines and penalties. He received five years probation and reported regularly, as required. In fact, it was during his probation meeting with his probation officer that immigration took him into custody.”

While on probation and prior to being deported, Gonzalez-Leal met Ruffin’s daughter, Vickie, and the two were married in 2004. Until October when the couple moved to Maine with their three young children, they lived in Louisville, Ky.

After being deported in February, Roberto Gonzalez-Leal re-entered the country in March to care and provide for his wife, who is dying of Crohn’s disease and cancer, and the children, Ruffin said.

At his Dec. 6 arraignment on the re-entry charge, Gonzalez-Leal pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutor Craig M. Wolff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland said by phone Thursday afternoon that should Gonzalez-Leal be found guilty, Singal could sentence him to prison or order him deported again.

Prison time is at the judge’s discretion, Wolff added.

“If he were given a prison sentence, he would serve it prior to being deported again,” Wolff said

Illegal re-entry of a removed alien is a Class C felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“The sentencing guidelines are advisory only. … The judge is not bound by them,” Wolff said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Gonzalez-Leal’s court-appointed attorney, Robert A. Levine of Portland, had yet to return calls for comment.