ST. THOMAS — Two men deported from the United States earlier this year were arrested at Cyril E. King Airport two days in a row. They now face criminal charges in District Court.

According to court documents, first, Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted Carlos Adrian Verdugo-Castro during a primary inspection on October 27, before his United Airlines flight from St. Thomas to Newark, New Jersey.

After being escorted to the secondary inspection area, Verdugo allegedly told authorities that he had been deported from the United States on May 30 and repatriated to his home country of Ecuador. He would have left again on September 22, heading first to Panama then to Sint Maarten.

From Sint Maarten, Verdugo told authorities he boarded a boat with other illegal immigrants and headed toward St. John. For the trip, he said he paid $2,000 to help him buy the boat.

Official documents confirmed Verdugo’s nationality and also confirmed that he had been deported from the United States. The most recent stamp on his passport indicated his entry into Sint Maarten, and no evidence could be found that he had authorization to re-enter the United States.

The next day, October 28, a Colombian man – Robert Tulio Ceron-Fajardo – was apprehended at CEKA while attempting to board a Frontier Airlines flight to San Juan. His final destination would also have been Newark. Ceron was escorted to the secondary inspection area by Customs and Border Protection officers, where he, too, allegedly admitted to being deported from the United States. In his case, he was apprehended in El Paso, Texas on April 11, and returned to his home country on April 17.

Ceron said he entered St. John by boat on October 9, coming from Sint Maarten like Verdugo before him. He paid his smuggler $2,700 to help him cross the border. Authorities noted an entry stamp on his Colombian passport, indicating that he had arrived in Saint-Martin on September 29. Again, like Verdugo, no evidence could be found that Mr. Ceron, after being deported earlier this year, had been granted permission to leave again. -enter the country.

Both men are now charged with re-entry after deportation, a misdemeanor. A detention hearing for Verdugo was held Oct. 29 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Teague. Judge Teague ordered him released to a third-party custodian in Minnesota after signing an unsecured appearance bond in the amount of $5,000. Ceron will appear before the magistrate on October 31 for his detention hearing.