ICE issues detainers for 5 rape suspects
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Casella passes on info
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
By MATT DUNN
Staff Writer
BRIDGETON -- Cumberland County Prosecutor Ron Casella isn't speaking publicly about the immigration status of five individuals charged with the gang rape of a 13-year-old Millville girl.
While he isn't sharing that information with the press, it doesn't necessarily mean he's keeping it to himself.
"Certainly, when you have reason to believe someone is illegal, we pass that information along," Casella said on Tuesday.
According to the prosecutor, that information is passed along to federal authorities, who have the tools to enforce immigration laws.
One of the men charged in connection with the alleged rape, Alfonso Ponce, 20, of Laurel Street, is an illegal immigrant, his lawyer reported last Friday.
All five men utilized a Spanish-speaking interpreter when they were arraigned in court, in connection with an offense prosecutors said occurred over Labor Day weekend.
Two of the men are farm laborers at Brookside Nursery in Hopewell Township, one of three locations where prosecutors believe the underage victim was assaulted.
The owner of the nursery reported 19-year-old Edson Leones and 25-year-old Vicente Rodriguez signed working papers claiming they are in the country legally.
Jeffrey Brooks would not provide copies of these documents to the News.
Ponce, Leones and Rodriguez were charged with first-degree sexual assault, second-degree criminal restraint, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, along with 24-year-old Raul Chasares and 23-year-old Oscar Estrada-Lopez.
All five men are being held at Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $200,000 cash bail.
A sixth suspect is being sought by authorities in connection with the incident, but had not been apprehended on Tuesday.
Local crimes involving illegal immigrants have gained increased attention, following a high number of hit-and-run auto accidents in and around Bridgeton in recent years, including a few fatalities.
Casella is concerned releasing immigrant information to the public would isolate a large portion of the community who could be an asset in his office's ability to do its job.
"We generally don't release that information because doing that runs contrary to efforts to get individuals to come forward and cooperate with us when they are witnesses to a crime," he said. "It's a difficult task to try and gain people's trust who would rather be anonymous."
Determining just how many illegal immigrants reside locally is no simple task.
Mexico and Central America are the leading contributors of illegal immigrants, with 7 million living in the United States in 2003, according to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.
Of the estimated 153,252 residents living in Cumberland County in 2005, up to 11,432 were of Mexican origin and up to 1,049 were of Central American origin.
There is no way to determine how many of those individuals are legal residents, because the U.S. Census Bureau does not solicit information on immigration status.
"You do not have to be a legal citizen to fill out a census form," said Sharon Mollick, state data center affiliate for the county department of planning and development.
A person's immigration status often becomes an issue in open court, where in setting high bail amounts, Superior Court judges often use it as a motivating factor.
Such was the case with 37-year-old Lazzaro Hernandez, charged in connection with the 2005 hit-and-run death of an 80-year-old woman on Bank Street in Bridgeton.
Prosecutors willingly disclosed Hernandez's immigration status when he was arraigned last year.
They were less forthcoming when a Superior Court judge recently ordered them to disclose the immigration status of potential witnesses to a 2003 homicide.
In either case, the information is regularly obtained by the prosecutor's office.
Casella said whenever a person is suspected of living in the country illegally, the prosecutor's office confirms that person's immigration status.
If prosecutors find out a person is an illegal immigrant, they pass that information along to federal authorities.
Only the federal government, through the Department of Homeland Security, has the ability to prosecute individuals for violating immigration laws.
"(The federal government) does what they want to as far as prosecution," Casella said.
The prosecutor said a case like the Labor Day weekend assault is unusual for Cumberland County's illegal immigrant population.
"Most of the illegal immigrants try to avoid drawing attention to themselves."
