CA-Undocumented workers arrested in Milton on fraud charges

Undocumented workers arrested in Milton on fraud charges
September 10, 2009 4:03 PM
BILL GAMBLIN

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office have arrested eight individuals for generating false personal identification information, which is a Florida statue for fraud.

According to Sgt. Scott Haines, in August the Sheriff's Office received a complaint in regards to possible undocumented workers being employed at the new Geo Prison on Jeff Ates Road in Milton.

Investigators from the Santa Rosa County Special Operations Division (A.I.M. Team) investigated the report and conducted a traffic stop on Tuesday near the construction site.

Contact was made with four subjects who were determined not to have the proper paperwork and documentation to be in the United States and made the statement they were employed as masons at the new private jail under construction.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement were contacted by telephone and were advised to inform ICE of any arrest made in conjunction with the investigation.

Abelino Oviedo-Salinas, 18, and Sergio Mata-Oviedo, 25, were arrested in conjunction with the traffic stop.

After these arrests members of the A.I.M. Team contacted the job foreman and made them aware of the situation and advised they would like to conduct a compliance check with the subcontractor to ensure that no one was laboring for him using false documentation or misleading information.

Arrested subsequent to the check were Margaro Elias, 48, Jaime Condeles, 37, Mariano Sanchez-Ramirez 21, Amado Landaverde-Vizcaya, 27, Jamie Flores-Aguilar 32, and Bernardo Mata, 25, all of which have no know address.

"The contractors and subcontractors were very cooperative with the efforts of the investigators," said Haines. "The alleged undocumented workers were determined to be doing work contracted out by a subcontractors at the job site. The subcontractor was contacted and cooperated with requests of the investigators."

According to Haines, the subcontractor stated that the subjects in question were contracted out by him through their company, Robles Masonry in Alabama.

The subcontractor assisted with the investigation in locating the six subjects on the job site and subsequently determined they had no identification.

When contacting Robles Masonry, they transmitted the forms the workers had completed, which investigators determined contained false identification information to fill out their tax forms.

All eight individuals are being held without bond pending their first appearances because they have no local addresses.

I.C.E. was notified of the arrests and after being booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail, two of the subjects fingerprint checks showed prior arrests under different names in other jurisdictions of the United States.

According to Haines, several of the subjects, including the driver from the traffic stop, have prior arrests for illegal entry into the United States by the U.S. Border Patrol.

"The task force will continue to operate as complaints are received," said Haines. "Sheriff Wendell Hall encourages the public to contact the Sheriff's Office with any complaints involving activity surrounding issues involving possible undocumented workers in Santa Rosa County.

The task force first gained notoriety in Santa Rosa County in February of last year when it arrested workers in various business in Santa Rosa County including La Hacienda.


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