Published: 10.12.2007

Crosser burns fingertips to hide identity
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A 25-year-old Mexican man went to extreme lengths this week in an attempt to conceal his identity by burning the tips of his fingers as he prepared to try to sneak into the country.
Border Patrol agents noticed the charred tips of the fingers of Mateo Cruz-Cruz, 25, of Mexico, at a processing center. He was arrested at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday after he jumped over the border fence east of Douglas, said Richard DeWitt, Border patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
Knowing his criminal conviction of sexual assault of a minor in Polk County, Iowa, in 2004 would get him locked up if he was caught by the Border Patrol, Cruz-Cruz burned all 10 of his fingertips, DeWitt said. The Border Patrol runs records checks on all apprehended illegal border crossers.
It almost worked: Two attempts to read his prints were unsuccessful, DeWitt said. But, after further questioning from agents, Cruz-Cruz confessed his name and date of birth, DeWitt said. Agents used that information to find about his criminal past from a national crime database that showed the arrest in Iowa and a deportation in March 2004.
He will be prosecuted for re-entry of an aggravated felon, DeWitt said.
It isn't the first time somebody has attempted to conceal his or her identity in this manner.
A plastic surgeon from Nogales, Ariz., was indicted this year by a federal grand jury, accused of surgically removing a suspected drug smuggler's fingerprints for $25,000.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/205880