Thread: Indian River County Sheriff's Office refuses to identify inf

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Indian River County Sheriff's Office refuses to identify informant

By DAN GARCIA
dan.garcia@scripps.com
July 19, 2006
VERO BEACH — The Sheriff's Office says it will not comply with a judge's order to identify the person who told authorities Noelia Noemi Sosa Espindola was working with a false Social Security number, resulting in the 23-year-old immigrant being jailed, separated from her infant daughter and facing deportation.

On June 30, Circuit Judge Dan L. Vaughn gave the State Attorney's Office 10 days to reveal the name of the informant, but a Sheriff's Office's attorney said Tuesday detectives would not reveal the name of the informer.

"How is disclosure of the confidential informant relevant?" said James Harpring, attorney for the Indian River County Sheriff's Office. "How could knowing the informant's identification mitigate against her use of someone else's ID?"
Sosa's attorneys, Jimmy Benincasa and Thomas Kennedy, filed a motion Monday asking Vaughn to force the Sheriff's Office to comply with his earlier order.

Sosa's attorneys say she has been in jail since April 28 because of a bitter child-custody dispute with the father of her child, Dane Cassidy, 27, of Vero Beach. Sosa and Cassidy had a daughter, Daniella Nichole Cassidy, out of wedlock Nov. 21, 2004.

Sosa came to the United States from Uruguay in February 2003 and overstayed her 90-day tourist visa.

On April, 28, Sheriff's Detective Bill Staar charged Sosa with criminal use of personal identification for allegedly using someone else's Social Security number to work at a pizza parlor in Indian River Mall. The Social Security number was assigned to an 8-year-old boy in Wellington.

Sosa was arrested one business day before her attorney Margaret Anderson, and Cassidy's attorney, Kathryn Hill, were to settle on terms of Cassidy's child support payments.

Benincasa said Sosa is entitled to know her accuser because her purse was stolen from her car Oct. 6, and copies of documents taken from her purse are being used in her prosecution.

Among the documents were her passport, Social Security card, birth certificate, credit card and other identification.

"In order to pursue her defense, we need to question everyone who was involved," Benincasa said.

Benincasa said the case against Sosa is flawed because Hill, who represents Cassidy in the child-support case, handled the divorce case of Eddie Melton, the immigration agent in Fort Pierce who placed the federal detainer on Sosa.

"This case smells," Benincasa said. "There are probably thousands of illegal immigrants working in this county in hotels, restaurants, cleaning services and lawn-care services with fake Social Security numbers, and not one is being charged, except this single girl, because of a child custody dispute."

Benincasa said he will call several witnesses to testify Cassidy threatened Sosa with deportation repeatedly if she did not reunite with him. Vero Beach Police issued Cassidy a trespassing warning for allegedly going to the home of Sosa's mother and issuing such threats.

Benincasa said Sosa separated from Cassidy because he is on drug-offender probation for possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana in St. Lucie County.

Benincasa was scheduled to question Staar and Cassidy in pre-trial depositions Thursday.

On Tuesday, County Judge Joe Wild quashed Benincasa's subpoena of Cassidy.

"This case smells," Benincasa said. "There are probably thousands of illegal immigrants working in this county in hotels, restaurants, cleaning services and lawn-care services with fake Social Security numbers, and not one is being charged, except this single girl, because of a child custody dispute."

This case does not smell. I have no doubt there are thousands of illegals working in that county and in every county in Florida. Fact is she got caught. She is being charged because she perpetrated several crimes. Who gives a hoot that she is has a custody dispute. It has no bearing on her criminal activities.

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