Romanian Immigrant Faces Deportation After Early Release for Sex Crimes

A Romanian immigrant, Rebecca Fratilla-Illies, is currently wanted by ICE after returning to prison, where she’s suspected of violating her probation following an early release for sexually abusing a middle school boy.

Fratilla-Illies was found guilty of two counts relating to sexual knowledge of a child and statutory rape. She was initially arrested in December 2022 in Virginia. Recently, she has come under the radar of ICE, which is now working on her deportation case.

After serving a ten-year sentence at Staunton Prison, Fratilla-Illies was released early but soon relocated to North Carolina. There, she was taken into custody by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office on March 25, 2025, amid allegations of probation violations.

ICE Director Todd Lyons noted that although Fratilla-Illies is a lawful permanent resident, her convictions for child sex crimes put her in jeopardy of deportation. He mentioned that she’s in deportation proceedings, following an order from a Department of Justice Immigration Judge.

The specifics regarding her release from prison or the details of the alleged probation violation remain unclear.

After her latest incident with the law, the sheriff’s office alerted ICE, which placed an immigration detainer on her in mid-April to ensure she wouldn’t be released during the ongoing case.

Federal authorities revealed that Fratilla-Illies came to the U.S. as a child and received a green card in 2006. However, it was later uncovered that her mother had filed a fraudulent asylum claim, which resulted in the revocation of that green card.

A judge had ordered her deportation in absentia in 2017, but she appealed the decision and secured relief in 2022, before her conviction.

Lyons emphasized that her criminal actions make her a candidate for deportation. Currently, Fratilla-Illies is held in police custody as the probation violation case unfolds.