Guatemalan national faces felony drug charges in Brewster, sheriff says; may be in country illegally




8:19 AM, May. 25, 2011 |
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Written by Terence Corcoran



BREWSTER — A man suspected of being in the country illegally from Guatemala is being held at the Putnam County jail on a federal immigration-detainer warrant after sheriff's deputies arrested him felony drug charges, police said today.

The investigation into the alleged illegal activities of Melvin Recinos-Juarez, 23, dates to July 2010 when members of the sheriff's narcotics enforcement unit developed information that Recinos-Juarez was selling cocaine, Chief Investigator A. Gerald Schramek said in a release.

An undercover investigator was able to make several purchases from Recinos-Juarez. In April, police obtained a warrant charging him with three counts each of third-degree criminal sale and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, felonies, police said.

As Recinos-Juarez was leaving his home at 119 Main St., Brewster, about 10:30 p.m. May 18, investigators and undercover deputies took him into custody and filed the charges. He was arraigned before Village Justice Richard O'Rourke, who sent him to the Putnam County jail in Carmel in lieu of $20,000 cash bail.

Jail officials, suspecting Recinos-Juarez was in the country illegally, notified the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which lodged the detainer warrant.

A 1996 Acura sedan and $900 in cash that police seized from Recinos-Juarez are subject to asset forfeiture, police said.

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