Thread: Brewster, NY - Immigrant detainer might have held suspect

By Terence Corcoran • tcorcora@lohud.com • July 7, 2009

BREWSTER - A man who police say was in the country illegally when he was charged over the weekend with driving while intoxicated was able to post bond and get out of jail because there was no federal immigration detainer warrant to prevent his release, a Putnam County official said yesterday.

The county Sheriff's Office, which runs the county jail, routinely notifies federal authorities when it arrests a person it suspects is an illegal immigrant. In more serious cases and those involving felonies, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will usually place a detainer warrant on a suspect, which ensures that he or she will not be released even if bail is posted.

But after Brewster police arrested Segundo Ordonez-Tanay, 26, on Friday on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, ICE was not called because it doesn't take calls on the weekend, Undersheriff Peter Convery said.

As a result, Ordonez-Tanay, who gave police an address of 7025 Surrey Drive, Danbury, Conn., was released after posting the $5,000 bond set by Village Justice Richard O'Rourke.

A message left yesterday with a federal immigration spokesman was not immediately returned.

The arrest struck a raw nerve in the community because it came less than a month after another drunken-driving suspect who police say is an illegal immigrant, Zacaria Conses-Garcia, 35, was accused of plowing into a mother and daughter as they were leaving the girl's dance class, killing both.

Police said Ordonez-Tanay, who has a Maryland driver's license but no other legal documentation, was driving a truck registered to JNC Construction Corp. The company operates from a Brewster post-office box and has a principal office at 86 Drake Ave., New Rochelle, according to its filing with the state Department of State.

Messages left for JNC at the New Fairfield, Conn., home of its chairman, Jorge Couto, were not returned.

A woman driving on Route 6 around 5 p.m. Friday called 911 after seeing Ordonez-Tanay erratically driving by, police said. The woman followed him until police took over. Police said he drove past several stop signs before stopping and refused to cooperate. He was not in an accident, and his actions caused no injuries, police said.

In addition to DWI, Ordonez-Tanay was charged with refusing a chemical test, running a stop sign, failing to signal and failing to obtain a valid driver's license, all violations.

Ed Kowalski of Pawling, a member of an immigration-reform group that visited Brewster to speak against the deaths at the dance school, said he would be surprised if Ordonez-Tanay made his scheduled July 13 appearance in Village Court.

"It's a virtual certainty that this guy has disappeared into the illegal-immigration community and will never be found," said Kowalski of 9/11 Families for a Secure America. "In this instance, bail should not have been set. The judges in Putnam County need not be afraid to enforce the law. I'm very disappointed to hear that he was able to make bail. The judge who set that bail should have taken that into consideration and set it higher."

Patti Hupp, a Brewster mother who had organized peaceful walks in support of the victims of last month's crash at the dance school and against illegal immigration, said she, too, was disappointed Ordonez-Tanay was able to post bond.

"He's the definition of a flight risk," she said. "This was a moment where action could have been taken, but it wasn't."

Hupp said she and other mothers would walk at 6 p.m. tomorrow to mark one month since the mother-daughter tragedy.

O'Rourke, the justice, did not return a call seeking comment. The bail he set for Ordonez-Tanay is higher than what most first-time DWI offenders face. Usually, first-time offenders are released without bail. Occasionally, a judge may set bail at $500.

The June 8 deaths of Kayla Donohue, 8, and Lori Donohue, 37, unified many residents in their opposition to illegal immigration, the hiring of illegal immigrants and drunken driving.

Conses-Garcia, an unlicensed motorist, was driving a truck registered to Valerie Ann Renihan, a northern Westchester County horse trainer who said through her lawyer that he took her truck without permission. He was indicted on two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and is being held without bail. A federal detainer warrant was lodged against him.

Meanwhile, the Donohues have placed a thank-you sign to the community at the spot outside Seven Stars School of Performing Arts where mother and daughter were killed. The family has a Web site in their memory, www.loriandkayla.org.

http://www.lohud.com/article/2009907070349

Where do these "poor struggling immigrants" get this kind of money to give up for bail, knowing they'll never come back to court and collect it? I thought they were all "underpaid"?

I can't even believe my eyes!!!!!!! ICE doesn't work on weekends!!!!!!!!! No wonder their is so much drunken debauchery on weekends. Not to mention holidays!

Dixie