Illegal immigrants arrested in Hocking Co.
Men worked at Kroger stores in Southeastern Ohio
Sarah Laubacher
Reporter


Gomez

Hernandez

ROCKBRIDGE - Hocking County Sheriff's Deputy Ed Downs discovered a car-full of five admittedly-illegal Mexican immigrants Wednesday night, after he followed their Nissan Sentra from the Rockbridge Sunoco to a location on state Route 664 South (near Bob Evans) and conducted a traffic stop based on numerous lane violations.

According to Sheriff Lanny North, Downs arrested the driver for not having a valid license, and arrested the passenger for forgery (a fifth-degree felony), after he was found with a fake resident alien card, and a fake Social Security card.

Before Carlos Lopez Hernandez, 22, (the driver), and Samuel Gomez, 18, (the passenger), were incarcerated at the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail, the two suspects and their three companions were taken to HCSO for questioning. The silver Sentra was towed.

In order to conduct the interview, Downs contacted Officer George Anderson of the Ohio University Police Department, who spoke Spanish with the five men, and learned that Hernandez regularly drives the other four immigrants to their night-shift maintenance positions at various Kroger locations along US 33. One works at the Logan Kroger, one at Nelsonville, one at Trimble and another at the Athens location, Downs said, (according to information offered by the suspects, and confirmed by a Kroger employee.)

Hernandez and Gomez are originally from San Cristabol, Chiapas Mexico; and all five men currently live in Columbus. All four, except for Hernandez, had electoral IDs from Mexico, according to the report.

Downs contacted the Cincinnati office of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). Brandon Bowyer, an ICE agent from the Detention and Removal Division, advised that ICE would issue detainers on Hernandez and Gomez, and that the agency would deport them as soon as their cases conclude in the Hocking County court system.

Bowyer advised Downs to release the other three men. Even though they admitted to being illegal immigrants, Downs said, he would have to find a basis for other criminal charges in order to make an arrest. The suspects' information has been entered into the ICE system, however, so they can be identified in the future.
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