Thread: Library worker takes plea to lesser charges, waits on Immigr

Library worker takes plea to lesser charges, waits on Immigration decision

August 8, 2008 - 6:18PM
Keren Rivas / Times-News
A 23-year-old former Graham library worker pleaded guilty Friday morning in federal court to having used a Social Security number that was not hers to get a job.

And though Chief Judge James A. Beaty sentenced Marxavi Angel Martinez to 10 days in jail, which she has already served, and put her on two years of supervised probation, the Cummings High School graduate is still being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities under a federal detainer pending deportation proceedings.

Angel-Martinez was arrested on July 15 while working at the Graham library and charged with aggravated identity theft, making a false statement on a federal employment eligibility form, representing being a U.S. citizen and identity theft.

However, a grand jury indicted her on July 28 of one count of filing a false report on a federal employment eligibility form and misuse of a Social Security number to gain employment. The Social Security number she had used to apply for a job belonged to a dead person and had never been reissued, according to court filings.

As part of a plea bargain, Angel-Martinez agreed to plead guilty to the second charge. The government, on the other hand, agreed to dismiss the remaining charge and recommended a sentence in the lowest end of the range applicable to the charge, a recommendation the judge followed.

Besides the plea agreement, in making his decision the judge also considered information provided in an indictment, character letters from Angel-Martinez' friends and family members, and arguments from both attorneys and her own testimony.

Viviana Maltby, a Spanish translator and friend of the family who was at the hearing Friday, said Angel-Martinez told the judge that she, her sister and parents entered the United States legally when she was about 3 years old but that they later overstayed their visas.

According to Maltby, Angel-Martinez, who has been in custody since she was arrested, also told the judge that she took classes as an international student at a university in Charlotte for about three years after graduating from Cummings High School. She quit school when she couldn't keep up with the cost of tuition and decided to get a job to help her parents, Maltby said.

Greensboro attorney David Smith, who represented Angel-Martinez, said that in an effort to expedite the case both the defense and the government agreed to waive the 35-day disclosure period each side is entitled to when a pre-sentence report is filed. He said that while the disposition of the case was not ideal under her client's circumstances it does remove the case "from further consideration."

"This case is over with," he said. "Now everything is in the hands of immigration authorities."



FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY said immigration authorities have agreed to place Angel-Martinez under a $50,000 bond. This means that if she pays that amount, which cannot be guaranteed by a bail bondsperson, Angel-Martinez can be reunited with her family, which includes a child, while the deportation proceedings continue their course.

Though there is no telling when that would happen, friends were satisfied with the outcome of the case.

"I think it is a great outcome in this situation," said Graham attorney Chris Watkins, who attended the hearing in support of the family. "She's been punished I think enough for what has happened," he said, adding that no one has been hurt or has lost money as a result of Angel-Martinez's actions. Whatever she did, he said, she did to get a job.

ICE agents started investigating Angel-Martinez at the petition of Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson last month. Johnson told the Times-News then that the information about Angel-Martinez's immigration status came up as a result of an investigation into the use of aliases for Hispanic clients by members of the Alamance County Health's Department.

According to Johnson, Angel-Martinez had received prenatal services at the health department, which the department is required to provide regardless of the person's immigration status.

Johnson later told different media outlets that a confidential source had alerted him about Angel-Martinez's immigration status and that the information had not been obtained through confidential medical records.

Since Angel-Martinez was arrested, her husband, Marco Antonio Miranda Monroy, has been arrested by ICE agents and charged with using someone else's Social Security number to get a job. He is facing deportation. Friends of the family said Angel-Martinez's sister and parents have also entered the deportation process.


http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/charge ... ision.html

Since Angel-Martinez was arrested, her husband, Marco Antonio Miranda Monroy, has been arrested by ICE agents and charged with using someone else's Social Security number to get a job. He is facing deportation. Friends of the family said Angel-Martinez's sister and parents have also entered the deportation process.

So this ID theft thing runs in the family.