Thread: FL:A man of many names nabbed

Deported sex offender returns to Manatee, works under stolen ID
By ROBERT NAPPER
rnapper@bradenton.com

http://www.bradenton.com/local/story/200940.html

MANATEE --A previously deported convicted sex offender has been arrested in Manatee again after detectives say he came back illegally and got work here using a stolen name and Social Security number.

And his true name might not be known at all.

In 2002, a man then identified as Rene Gilcruz pleaded no contest in a Manatee court to sexual battery and aggravated assault with a weapon. He was sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence that was later reduced. Authorities deported the Mexican national after his prison term, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement sex offender database showed Gilcruz as deported as late as Tuesday evening. But, authorities say, since his deportation, the man known as Gilcruz returned to Manatee County illegally.

Since at least October 2006, he has been working in Sarasota and living in Palmetto using the name and stolen Social Security number of a Texas resident.

Recently, a Texas man called Manatee detectives saying the IRS was hauling him into court for not paying taxes for income he received working in Manatee County, according to sheriff's Detective Dawn Atkinson.

The victim, a truck driver, told Atkinson he has never been to Manatee County and told her the same story he had told other law enforcement agencies in several other states.

He lost his wallet several years ago in Texas, and his identity was stolen. He has had driver's licenses from Louisiana and other states taken out in his name since the theft, Atkinson said.

The IRS told the victim he owes taxes from work he did for Wellcraft, a Sarasota-based business. He told Manatee detectives he has never worked at Wellcraft. Wellcraft officials did not return a phone call for comment.

Atkinson called Wellcraft and asked if the company had an employee using the victim's name. Wellcraft said yes.

It turned out to be the man previously known as Gilcruz, Atkinson said.

When detectives arrived at Wellcraft on Friday, they found him working. He had a $534.66 check in his pocket made out in the Texas victim's name, Atkinson said.

As detectives continued to investigate, they found the man lived at an address in the 900 block of 18th Avenue West in Palmetto.

Atkinson said investigators found a forged permanent residency card and a Mexican identification during the investigation.

The Mexican ID shows the name Emilio Perez-Ramirez, 33, throwing detectives off their suspect's prior record. In fact, detectives now think the name Gilcruz has been made up all along.

"I would tend to believe his Mexican identification is the real information," said Atkinson. "But we really don't know."

It took a fingerprint match at the Manatee jail before detectives knew they had a convicted sex offender under arrest.

In addition to holding him on a felony charge of criminal use of personal information, detectives charged him with failure to register as a sex offender under the name Perez-Ramirez.

Sheriff's Detective Kim Zink said she has informed FDLE and state corrections officials of the arrest and is working to get his sex offender probation revoked.

Under the name Perez-Ramirez, he is being held on $40,000 bond, and detectives hope he doesn't get out of jail before the state can revoke his probation.

"It is scary that someone like that has been out there all this time," Zink said.

Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say identity theft is becoming an all-too-common way for illegal immigrants to get into the United States and stay here.

"It is an ongoing issue for us," said ICE spokesman Temple Sweat. "It is one of many issues we face."

This is a big problem that needs to be addressed. I have seen the same in South Florida where a person gets deported and then returns. Gang members such as MS-13 are notorious for that. There was a guy who was deported to Mexico in February and in March he returned. He ended up killing on roommate and stabbing another one who tried to break up the fight.