Thread: NC:Burlington woman faces deportation after applying for cable

UPDATED 9:47 AM EST Dec 13, 2012
BURLINGTON, N.C. —

A Burlington mother is facing deportation back to her native Mexico after she tried to use a fake Social Security card to apply for cable television service.


The Burlington Times-News reported Wednesday that 26-year-old Lorena Yanez-Mata was arrested in July by an off-duty Burlington police officer working security for Time Warner Cable. Yanez-Mata was handcuffed and charged with felony obtaining property by false pretense.
That charge was dropped by Alamance County prosecutors this week, but the arrest brought Yanez-Mata to the attention of federal immigration officials.
A deportation hearing was scheduled for Thursday in Charlotte, but supporters said the hearing has been canceled.

Yanez-Mata has a 7-year-old daughter and has lived in the United States without proper authorization since 2004. She had no criminal record prior to the July arrest.

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County to reconsider charges against Alamance Mom who faced deportation

2012-12-13T13:17:29 Thursday, December 13, 2012
Updated 01:17PM
By Travis Fain


An Alamance woman who avoided deportation proceedings this week may face renewed charges from her local district attorney because she used a fraudulent social security card to sign up for cable service.
Alamance County District Attorney Pat Nadolski said his office is working with the Burlington Police Department and reconsidering its decision to drop a charge against 26-year-old Lorena Yanez-Mata, who immigrated to the U.S. illegally years ago.

“There’s probably going to be additional charges,” Nadolski said. “It could be one charge, it could be two charges.”
Nadolski said there’s no timetable in place to decide the issue. The Burlington Police Department arrested Yanez-Mata in July after she used a social security card she admitted to buying on the black market to sign up for Time Warner Cable Service. Now the department is working on some “additional investigation,” Nadolski said, declining to get more specific.

It’s not clear where this leaves Yanez-Mata with federal immigration officials. She had faced a deportation hearing this morning, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decided Wednesday to drop her case. That decision came after the Alamance District Attorney’s office decided Tuesday that the local fraud charge pending against Yanez-Mata wasn’t appropriate because she gave her real name and address to Time Warner, despite using a false social security card. She also paid for the service, the office said in its dismissal paperwork.

Time Warner said it didn’t want to see her prosecuted, and that it reached out to the District Attorney’s office on the case.
“Frankly, we’re perplexed (with the district attorney’s decision),” said Ann Marie Dooley, one of Yanez-Mata’s Greensboro-based attorneys.

News-Record.com : County to reconsider charges against Alamance Mom who faced deportation

By Michael D. Abernethy / Times-News
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 17:33 PM.

GRAHAM — The woman at the center of an immigration battle after using a false Social Security number to attempt to get cable service — whose initial criminal charges were dismissed — was indicted Monday on two felonies.

Lorena Yanez-Mata, 26, of Robin Lane, Graham, was indicted on charges of felony common law uttering and identity theft.

According to the indictments, issued Monday by the Alamance County grand jury, Yanez-Mata is accused of using a falsely made Social Security card that “looked valid” to attempt to obtain cable service from Time Warner Cable on Huffman Mill Road in Burlington on July 30. The Social Security number belonged to Adrian Hernandez, the bill of indictment said.

Yanez-Mata had yet to be served with the indictments Wednesday.

Burlington Assistant Police Chief Chris Verdeck said the bills would be entered into a statewide database of warrants and orders for arrest, NCAWARE. When officers enter a person’s name into the database, unserved actions appear. Officers in the jurisdiction where Yanez-Mata lives, in this case Graham police, could also search for and serve unserved actions in their area.

Last month, Yanez-Mata’s original charge of obtaining property by false pretense was dismissed during a district court hearing after an assistant district attorney determined the charge didn’t fit the alleged crime. Alamance County District Attorney Pat Nadolski later said that dismissal was an error and that Yanez-Mata was still being investigated and was likely to be charged.

Following that dismissal and amid protests against her deportation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dropped its case against Yanez-Mata Dec. 13 — the day before she was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in Charlotte. A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the case didn’t meet the federal government’s standards for prosecution and deportation.

Yanez-Mata said she’s lived in the U.S. illegally for eight years. She has a 7-year-old daughter and said she was trying to get cable for her.

On July 30, while completing an application for cable service, Yanez-Mata was led from the Time Warner Cable office and arrested after an employee alerted an off-duty Burlington police officer working security that the Social Security card appeared altered. An on-duty officer was called to the scene and she was arrested.

Through an interpreter, Yanez-Mata admitted to the Times-News in December that the Social Security card was falsified.

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