Thread: Home invasion robber gets year in jail

Monday, February 16, 2009 10:15 AM EST
pmrozek@batavianews.com

By Paul Mrozek

WARSAW -- A Perry teenager arrested last year in connection with the robbing of migrant workers was sentenced last week to a year in jail.

Gonzalo Moya Hernandez, 16, of 2071 Silver Lake Rd., received the 12-month sentence Tuesday in an appearance in Wyoming County Court. Hernandez was convicted of third-degree robbery, a Class D felony, as part of a plea bargain worked out between the Wyoming County District Attorney's office and Public Defender Norman Effman.

Wyoming County Judge Michael F. Griffith granted Hernandez youthful offender status, meaning his record is sealed.

Hernandez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and will most likely face deportation once he completes his sentence. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a "hold" on Hernandez, meaning he will be turned over to federal custody once he finishes his local jail time.

The defendant has been in jail since his arrest in August. Hernandez is the first of five suspects to be convicted in the spree of home invasion robberies that occurred on area farms in the summer of 2008.

Paulino Valentin-Otano, 26, and Jorge L. Martinez-Cruz, 22, both of Mount Morris, are facing multiple-felony indictments in Wyoming County Court and Livingston County Court. They are being held in Wyoming County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail each.

Jessica Burgos, 24, of Mount Morris is facing felony charges for allegedly driving a getaway car during the home invasions. Jessica R. Wise, 25, of Nunda is charged with receiving stolen property from the robberies and lying about it to police.

The home invasion robberies occurred over a period of about six weeks.

The suspects wore masks and were armed with a machete and baseball bats when they entered the migrant worker homes at night and then robbed them. Some of the victims were tied up and beaten.

Items taken from the migrant workers included cash, cell phones and other personal property. The suspects told the laborers they would be deported if they talked to police.

Two of the workers were hospitalized with their injuries.

The home invasion victims were seasonal employees working on farms in Genesee, Wyoming and Livingston counties and possibly were not legal residents of the United States. The victims in the Wyoming County cases received waivers against deportation; that allowed them to come forward to identify the alleged perpetrators, Hemming said.

There were three home invasion robberies of migrant workers that occurred in Wyoming County, four in Livingston and one in Genesee.

The investigation that led to the arrest of the five suspects involved federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies.

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/artic ... 168399.txt

Hernandez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and will most likely face deportation once he completes his sentence.

Most likely is not definate enough! I don't trust that it WILL happen...

The home invasion victims were seasonal employees working on farms in Genesee, Wyoming and Livingston counties and possibly were not legal residents of the United States.
But I thought it was only we "American racists" who were harming these poor "undocumented workers"? How can this be??? Will this be classified as a "hate crime"?