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Criminals prey on Hispanics


Undocumented migrants don't report assaults

By Tal Abbady
and Leon Fooksman Staff Writers
Posted December 19 2005


On his way home from work at a construction site, Edilzar Roblero weaves his bike around the familiar streets of his neighborhood in the Northwood section of West Palm Beach.

But the ride home past auto shops and one-room churches in this blue-collar neighborhood around dusk is no time to decompress for a man on the lookout for potential attackers.

Roblero, from Guatemala, has been the victim of three violent assaults carried out by thugs who prey largely on Guatemalan and Mexican day laborers thought to be carrying wads of cash. The crime phenomenon began in the late 1980s with the influx of Guatemalan immigrants into Lake Worth and West Palm Beach, officials say.

Additional patrols and community outreach by police, social service agencies and churches have helped stem the tide of assaults, but groups of perpetrators continue to snare victims and claim lives.

Most recently, Eben Roblero, no relation to Edilzar Roblero, 21, of Guatemala, was shot to death by one of two women who approached him and his father Dec. 9 and demanded money. The men, who carried no cash, tried to fight their attackers.

Police arrested Candace Sims, 21, and Allissia Alexander, 22, both of West Palm Beach. Police said the women confessed to targeting Hispanic men. They were arrested on first-degree murder charges.

"You never know when they're going to come at you. They might be behind a hedge or waiting around the corner of a side street," said Edilzar Roblero, 34, who's lived in West Palm Beach for nine years and, like others, sees the assaults as a hard-luck rite of passage for immigrants. He wears a red bandana on his head and has a cell phone latched to his belt.

Two years ago, four men approached him as he rode home from work. They demanded money, though he had none. They searched his shoes for cash. Finding none, they dragged and beat him before letting him go. He was too afraid to report the incident.

Typically, the victims are workers who are here illegally, do not have bank accounts and are afraid to notify police when robbed or attacked. The perpetrators know this about them, police say. They know that pay day is on Friday and often track their victims' routes from the job to the check-cashing store to their homes in one of the multiple, low-rise apartment buildings that line Broadway Avenue.

"Criminals see them as easy prey," Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Capt. Tony Araujo said of the victims. "They roll them and get $20, $30, $50 or more."

Eben Roblero died in the parking lot of the building at 3201 Broadway Ave. where he lived with his father, a humble address in a crime-ridden corridor. Roblero's father, Arben Roblero, 42, says he has been assaulted 10 times since arriving in the United States eight years ago. Until his son's death, he did not report the crimes, but almost every block near his home is tagged with the memory of an assault.

Eight months ago, on Broadway and 32nd, three men approached him and a friend, put a knife to his neck and demanded money. When they were satisfied he had none, they beat him. On Broadway and 44th, his cell phone was ripped from his pocket. On 33rd and Broadway, three men lunged at him asking for money.

Two years ago, shortly after Eben Roblero arrived, father and son were walking near St. Mary's Medical Center. Four men approached them for money. Roblero says they beat him with a stick and took $27 from his son.

Since September, there have been 25 robberies against Hispanics on Broadway Avenue between 24th and 59th streets, according to West Palm Beach Police spokesman Lt. Chuck Reed. Police suspect many incidents go unreported.

"At this point the number of robberies has been so high that we have to take immediate action," Reed said.

The Guatemalan Consulate has issued thousands of consular identification cards since 2001 and has worked with local law enforcement agencies to establish the cards as a legitimate form of identification for anyone reporting a crime or whose help is sought in solving one.

Vice-Consul Cristy Andrino said the consulate plans to disseminate information to West Palm Beach police officials on how the cards are issued and how to recognize legitimate consular identification cards.

The consulate has also worked with several banks, including Fidelity Bank and Bank of America, to allow Guatemalans to open accounts using either a consular identification card or a consulate-issued Guatemalan passport.

Jack Hairston, founder of Mayan Family Services in West Palm Beach, says his agency taught basic banking skills to many immigrants who've received the cards.

But Andrino said Guatemalans who hail from rural provinces and have no experience with banks are slow to open accounts, fear official authority of any kind and continue to put themselves at risk.

"There's still the belief among many Guatemalan immigrants that it's safer to store your money under the mattress rather than in a bank," said Andrino. She said a mobile consular office in Palm Beach County has issued 5,000 consular identification cards and Guatemalan passports since 2001.

There are about 75,000 Guatemalans in Palm Beach County.

"What difference would it make it I put my money in a bank?" Edilzar Roblero said. "When three guys come at you already convinced that you have money, there's nothing you can do."

Last week, Arben Roblero began arrangements to bury his son.

"It's true when the police say they don't always know what's going on. We often don't tell them," Roblero said, sitting next to a white sheet that curtained off the space where his son once slept. "These are young people drowning in drugs, that's what driving this ... Years ago, things were worse. If you went out on your bike you didn't know if you'd make it back. I used to run from my apartment to the store and back if I needed groceries. Now there are more cops on the streets and things are better, but my heart is split in half. Nothing can repair my son's death."

A memorial service for Eben Roblero will be today at 6 p.m. at All County Funeral Home, Del Lago Chapel, 131 S. Lakeside Drive, Lake Worth. The Palm Beach County division of victim services has arranged to have Roblero's body flown to Guatemala on Tuesday for burial.

Tal Abbady can be reached at tabbady@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6624.