Sep 10, 2007 1:30 pm US/Pacific
Illegal Immigrant Accused Of Abuse May Be Deported

(CBS) NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. Prosecutors in Newport Beach declined on Monday to file domestic abuse charges against a 19-year-old woman accused of hitting her boyfriend with a purse, but she may face deportation to Mexico, police said.

Aracely Lopez of Paramount was arrested Sunday afternoon, after an officer on patrol in the area of Cliff Drive, north of Heisler Park in Laguna Beach, allegedly saw her hit a man.

The patrolman "hits his record button and captures her hitting him with her purse," said Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jason Kravetz.

The woman and her boyfriend had apparently driven to Laguna Beach for a day at the shore with several friends.

Lopez was arrested on suspicion of spousal abuse and remained in jail overnight when she could not post the $10,000 bail, which would have cost about $1,000 through a bail bondsman, Kravetz said.

This morning, prosecutors at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach declined to file a case against Lopez, Kravetz said.

Dennis Conway, who heads the District Attorney's Office at the Harbor courthouse, said his office determined there was no crime.

The boyfriend had no desire to prosecute, no one was hurt and it was determined to be a "one-on-one" disturbance between the two, Conway said.

"We declined to file in the interest of justice," he said.

Kravetz said Lopez, when questioned routinely about her immigration status, admitted that she was in the United States illegally.

He said an immigration hold was placed on her, and she would probably be questioned by an immigration agent later on Monday and taken to the Border Patrol office in San Clemente for deportation.

Lopez has been in the U.S. illegally since she was brought into the country at the age of 3, family members told KCAL9. She attended high school in the Southland and has a job.

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