Illegal immigrant gets probation for vandalizing cemetery
Saturday, January 19, 2008
By MATT DUNN
mdunn@sjnewsco.com
BRIDGETON -- A man described by a Superior Court judge as an "undocumented alien" has been sentenced to 40 hours of community service in connection with a 2007 act of vandalism at a city cemetery.

Eliseo Diaz, 22, of Washington Street, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Richard Geiger on Friday to two years of probation and community service after pleading guilty to third-degree criminal mischief.

According to Diaz's plea agreement, his community service will take place at Broad Street Cemetery, where he and another man knocked over a number of tombstones in an Aug. 28, 2007, incident, causing more than $2,000 worth of damage.

Diaz, who was drunk when he caused the damage to the cemetery, gave police the alias of Juan Diaz when he was arrested.

Claudio Perez, of Church Street, the other man charged in connection with the incident, disappeared shortly after he was released from Cumberland County Jail in 2007 and was never found.

"If the judge wants me to pay," Diaz said in court Friday, through a Spanish-speaking interpreter, "I just want to know the amount."

Diaz will pay no fines for the damage he caused to the historic pre-Revolutionary War city cemetery, where about 160 Civil War veterans are buried.

Geiger said Diaz's community service will take the place of fines.

Diaz must remain sober for two years and undergo substance abuse counseling, he added.

Whether Diaz, who has no prior criminal record, has the opportunity to serve his sentence depends on how federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement authorities handle his case.

Diaz, who allegedly entered the United States from Mexico illegally at the age of 17, has an immigration detainer placed on him by the federal government and could be subject to deportation.

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