Thread: Appeals court: illegal immigrant charged in Bound Brook can

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Appeals court: illegal immigrant charged in Bound Brook can enter PTI program

By MICHAEL DEAK • STAFF WRITER • June 30, 2009

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BOUND BROOK — An illegal immigrant driving a dump truck in the borough and charged with giving police a false driver's license should be admitted into the pretrial intervention program, an appellate court has ruled.

Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest appealed the admission of Rolando Patricio Diaz-Calle to the PTI program which, if successfully completed, would result in all charges being dropped.

Diaz-Calle was driving a dump truck on June 28, 2008, to a soil recycling operation at 100 W. Main St. when the truck was stopped by police. Diaz-Calle produced a Florida commercial license that had his photograph, but the name "Amado Sancho Fernandez," court papers indicate.

The police officer determined the license was fake and asked Diaz-Calle to write his name and date of birth on a piece of paper. The name he wrote on the paper was not the same as the one on the license, according to court papers.

A search of Diaz-Calle's wallet produced three more fraudulent identifications, court papers say.

On Sept. 2, 2008, a Somerset County grand jury indicted Diaz-Calle on one count of exhibiting a false document, two counts of possessing false documents and one count of tampering with public records.

Diaz-Calle applied for PTI but was rejected by the program director. The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office agreed, saying Diaz-Calle's offenses "constitute part of a continuing pattern of antisocial behavior" and that Diaz-Calle was in the country illegally.

Diaz-Calle never disputed being an illegal immigrant. He was born on June 8, 1983, in Ecuador and came to the United States by way of Mexico in 2001. Diaz-Calle has never been convicted of a crime in this country or any other country, according to court papers.

Diaz-Calle appealed the rejection into the program to state Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman, who granted the appeal on Oct. 2, 2008.

In his ruling, Coleman said that based on previous Appellate Court rulings, an illegal alien cannot be denied admission into the PTI program solely on the basis of being an illegal alien.

Coleman ruled the continuing illegal activity cited by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office was nothing more than Diaz-Calle's status as an illegal immigrant.

The Appellate Court also rejected the Prosecutor's Office's argument that the dumping operation in Bound Brook was a continuing illegal activity.

The Appellate Court ruled there was no evidence that Diaz-Calle was involved in the dumping operation, nor was charged with any offense "even remotely related to that enterprise."


Michael Deak: 908-243-6611; mdeak@MyCentralJersey.com.

Here I thought giving false ID to a law enforcement officer was a FELONY and a deportable offense? Now I know how Alice must have felt in Wonderland!

A search of Diaz-Calle's wallet produced three more fraudulent identifications, court papers say.

Anyone know how an American found with 3 or 4 false IDs would be treated?