Man in US illegally goes free on assault charge – then tries to kill NC woman, DOJ says

A man accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend with a plastic rope — saying “I love you and I’m going to kill you” — before she escaped, is now facing a federal kidnapping charge, authorities said.

The case against Luis Analberto Pineda-Anchecta goes back to May 15, 2019, when he was arrested for assaulting and threatening his ex-girlfriend in North Carolina, authorities said.

Pineda-Ancheta, 37, who had entered the country illegally from Honduras, authorities said, made bond and six days later tried to kill her with the plastic rope.

He faces life in prison.

On Thursday, prosecutors in the Western District of North Carolina charged Pineda-Anchecta with kidnapping, adding to his existing conviction for illegal reentry by a deported alien, according to a news release.

After Pineda-Anchecta was arrested in May by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a detainer, which sought to keep him in custody until officials could determine his identity, immigration status and criminal history.

But he made bond and was released two days later. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Thursday, Pineda-Anchecta then went after his ex-girlfriend, who is referred to only as F.M. in court documents.

F.M. was in her apartment complex parking lot on May 21, 2019, when two masked men approached her — one of whom she recognized as Pineda-Anchecta, the complaint states.

He grabbed her by the arm, stuffed a cloth in her mouth and wrapped a rope around her head to keep it in place, before shoving her into the passenger seat of a Ford Fusion, prosecutors said in the complaint.

They drove down U.S. 521, all the while Pineda-Anchecta maintained “a tight grip on the plastic rope tied around the victim’s face,” the complaint states. The second assailant did not ride with them.

Pineda-Anchect eventually stopped at a wooded area and dragged F.M. out of the car, prosecutors said.

According to the complaint, he tried to rape her. A struggle ensued for 10 minutes.

“The tussle ended when he tripped on the plastic rope and fell,” the complaint states.

The victim then ran into the roadway and flagged down a motorist who didn’t speak Spanish but noticed she was having trouble breathing, according to the complaint.

“F.M. pointed to the plastic rope around her neck and used her hands to show signs of strangulation,” prosecutors said.

A second motorist who did speak Spanish then pulled over, and F.M. was able to communicate that her ex-boyfriend had assaulted her, the complaint states.

Pineda-Anchect locked his car and fled on foot, leaving behind a spool of white plastic rope in the backseat and the victim’s phone, prosecutors said.

According to a separate news released detailing charges for illegal reentry, Pineda-Anchect engaged Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s SWAT team in an hours-long standoff on May 23, 2019.

CMPD eventually arrested him and charged him with assault on a female, communicating threats, assault on a person by strangulation and inflicting physical injury, violation of a domestic violence order and first-degree kidnapping of a person over 16, prosecutors said.

ICE issued a second detainer, but Pineda-Anchect paid bond and was reportedly released June 1.

Special agents from the Charlotte Homeland Security Investigations office and members of ICE’s Charlotte-based Fugitive Operations Team arrested him the following day, prosecutors said.

He was sitting in a car with a loaded gun and ammunition at the time, according to the release.

Pineda-Anchect is in federal custody and was sentenced Jan. 7 to seven months in prison for his illegal reentry conviction, prosecutors said Thursday.

His next court appearance on the federal kidnapping charge is Friday.