Thread: IA: Hawarden man sentenced for ID theft

Hawarden man sentenced for ID theft
By Melanie Brandert
mbrander@argusleader.com
Published: December 14, 2007

A Hawarden, Iowa, man was sentenced Thursday for felony identity theft and misdemeanor forgery, simple assault, second-degree harassment and fourth-degree criminal mischief charges.

Eusebio Topete-Topete, 44, received five years in prison from District Judge James Scott, said Coleman J. McAllister, Sioux County attorney. Scott gave Topete-Topete five years for identity theft, two years each for two counts of forgery and one year each on criminal mischief and harassment, but ordered them to run at the same time.

Hawarden police was called to Topete-Topete’s home on Sept. 16. Officers found he broke the driver’s side window of a vehicle with a beer bottle and the driver suffered minor cuts. Topete-Topete threatened to carve and disfigure his wife’s face two days earlier.

Officers also learned he worked at Iowa Lamb under a false name. Topete-Topete had fake Social Security and Nebraska identification cards in another name to get work. He was previously deported in 2001 by immigration.

Federal officials will begin deportation after the prison term ends.

www.argusleader.com

Even rural Iowa is affected by illegal immigration. Hawarden, is a small community (population 2600) next to the Big Sioux River in Sioux County in northwest Iowa. Hawarden is located 35 miles north of Sioux City, Iowa and 45 miles south of Sioux Falls, SD.

Hawarden's police force: Chief, Sargeant, 2 patrolmen, and 1 reserve patrolman.

Those 'undocumented' are actually 'highly documented' with fraudulent documents our government readily accepts.

I was so shocked to see Hawarden in the headlines here. This is such a tiny peaceful town. My Mother was born there. As a child they would drive me from Colorado to Hawarden to spend the summers with my Grandparents. These are one of the best memories of my childhood. I still have many relatives that live there. The people in this town are the most amazing kindhearted people. It upsets me greatly that illegals are settling there.....

em>CherieDawn

Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and he will sit in the boat and drink beer all day ~grin[/i]


And your point is LOL...I love it

frmjarhead;

I am glad you laughed, for it was truly meant to be humorous

You know it was so funny because it is mosty true .. or so I hear ?

And a good laugh is always good .. Thank you

Jean Thanks for pulling up the Argus Leader article.

I've been waiting for that one and two others to post. Only had small releases previously about the charges.

There is a lot of this in rural Iowa. This is in the heart of farm country. A lot of farmers with dairy operations, the meat packing plants, and many other agriculture related industries who rely on these guys to work for them. They set them up in trailers on their property if they "milk the cows" because they have to get up SO early in the morning. If they stay at home and drink, they don't have to drive BUT ..

The meat packing plants are ever the lure for many. There was a traffic accident recently in this same area. A father and child died. The father was from Hildago, Mexico. Would the Argus Leader state that he was here illegally? No. We have to "cover" up those facts generally until they are taken through the courts UNLESS they are busted for illegal drugs which then, depending, seems to be the case when it comes to the Argus Leader covering the story. They do appear to hold bias.

Watch Sen. Tim Johnson in the up and coming election. Is he going to get re-elected with $2 million in his coffers and the status of being the "incumbent" or will the State buck him like they did with Daschle in the last Senate election? The word is the potential Republican Candidates (or anyone else who may be up to the task) doesn't have the financial means to back a campaign against Johnson. Johnson may have suffered a medical set-back but if he wants to be in the race, he needs to be treated like any other candidate in the running. No, I don't agree his disability status should be used against him BUT I also don't feel that it should allow him to keep the status quo, neither. Sen. Johnson is ENABLING the illegals, Does this have to do with the fact about the meat-packing and agriculture dependence on this labor force?

The impact of illegal aliens in states like Iowa is severe. There are so few jobs in the state, it's really noticeable when jobs are lost in this manner. Government and the media have been denying it for years.

The "undocumented worker program" has been created by government, at every level, to line the pockets of corrupt politicians. That's the reason they don't want to enforce employer sanctions. They are afraid the business community will see to it they do time as well.

OK, you see when this post was made about this article

Well, the article was not posted in the ARGUS LEADER on the 14th as stated, it appears today, 12/17/07 on page 2A. Had it been posted on Friday, Saturday OR the best day would have been Sunday, It would have reached more public than a Monday rendition of the newspaper. (Actually Sunday is the best day because it has the most circulation.)

I searched high and low the weekend papers. I was going to call the Argus Editor this am but then low and behold - there it is!

again I say hmmmmmmn