Illegal immigrants who fled from van captured

Published: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
ADAM MAWSON
amawson@MorningJournal.com

AMHERST — Five illegal immigrants who fled from a van on the Ohio Turnpike around 10 a.m. Friday were all arrested as of Saturday, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Agents were assisted by Highway Patrol, Amherst police and the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office in catching two Honduran men, two Guatemalan men and one Mexican man, identified as Melvin Hernandez.

Amherst police located one suspect early in the search. A few hours later, troopers found two more. The last two were caught by Amherst police and sheriff’s deputies Saturday morning.

All five were traveling east in a maroon Toyota minivan with California plates on the turnpike. Border patrol agents began following and the driver, Hernandez, began driving erratically, as if he was attempting to avoid the agents, according to border patrol. When the van was pulled over in Amherst, the five men bailed out and fled south into a wooded area behind the Vermilion Valley Service Plaza.

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Andy Patterson said at least two of the arrests were the result of citizens in the area calling 911 after they spotted the suspects and tipping off authorities.

“It’s been my experience in all parts of the country that we always do far better work when the public gets involved as far as being our eyes and ears,â€