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Posted on Sat, Mar. 03, 2012

Russell County man indicted in scheme to transport immigrants has been deported 8 times

By ALAN RIQUELMY

A married couple accused of transporting several illegal immigrants from Ladonia, Ala., to Florida were indicted last week by a federal grand jury, court records state.


Kathleen Ann Roberson, 21, and her 33-year-old husband Roberto Jimenez-Delgado, an illegal immigrant who’s been deported eight times, face charges of bringing in and harboring illegal immigrants. Jimenez-Delgado faces additional charges of re-entry of deported illegal immigrants and concealment of facts about re-entry, court documents state.

Authorities claim Jimenez-Delgado, arrested days after his wife was caught trying to transport five illegal immigrants to Florida, told federal agents he was called on Feb. 2 by someone identified as Chino about taking 13 illegal immigrants to Florida. Jimenez-Delgado said he couldn’t, but suggested his wife and her family could help. Jimenez-Delgado then had Roberson call two of her aunts, identified as “Jamie” and “Dana,” who went to Atlanta and picked up 13 or 14 illegal immigrants from Chino.

Jimenez-Delgado, who said he’d get paid $500 for his role, told authorities the immigrants were at his mobile home the following day. Court documents state the aunts, Roberson and 29-year-old Jessica Roland then took the immigrants to various spots in Florida.

Authorities claim Roberson and Roland, who was charged but hasn’t been indicted, left Phenix City for Immokalee, Fla. Initially traveling in separate vehicles to south Florida, the group piled into Roberson’s Kia Sorento in Tampa after car trouble.

A Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy stopped Roberson’s vehicle on Feb. 4 because it had no valid license plate and had seven people inside it.

Roland, who has also been known as Jessica Elmer, was found sitting in the back of the vehicle and had a small amount of cocaine, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Roberson, meanwhile, was found carrying nearly $6,000 in cash.

About half an hour after the stop, an U.S. Border Patrol agent arrived and began interviewing the people inside the car.
Roberson told investigators she knew the passengers were illegal immigrants, and said she was to collect $100 for each person she delivered to Immokalee, southeast of Fort Myers, according to court records.

Roland, however, denied knowing the passengers were in the country illegally “despite the fact that they spoke little to no English and she had a difficult time communicating with them,” an affidavit states.
Roland said she was helping Roberson transport “close family friends” to Immokalee, the affidavit says, and was using Roberson “to get away” from issues at home.

Federal agents learned that Jimenez-Delgado was married to Roland. They then showed the illegal immigrants Jimenez-Delgado’s picture, where four out of the five immigrants identified him from the photo, and they implicated him in the conspiracy to get them to Florida, records state.

Border Patrol agents arrested Jimenez-Delgado on Feb. 8 outside the Hillsborough County Jail.Jimenez-Delgado and Roberson’s arraignment before a federal magistrate is scheduled for Thursday.

Ledger-Inquirer


Alabama woman caught transporting 5 illegal immigrants in SUV during traffic stop


http://www.alipac.us/f12/alabama-wom...c-stop-250211/