NC:Burlington woman faces deportation after applying for cable

Burlington woman faces deportation after applying for cable

Published 11:10 AM EST Dec 12, 2012

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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. She faces a deportation hearing in Charlotte scheduled for Thursday.
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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Woman’s supporters ask deportation measures be halted

Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 17:39 PM.

A rally was held Tuesday in front of the Time Warner Cable offices on Huffman Mill Road to support a woman who is facing deportation as a result of actions that began at the business.
About 20 people attended. Supporters of Lorena Yanez-Mata held signs reading: “Help Lorena stay home.” Yanez-Mata’s 7-year-old daughter’s sign read: “I need my mommy home.”
Yanez-Mata, 26, is scheduled to face a deportation hearing Thursday in Charlotte. She’s a native of Mexico who has lived in the United States for eight years.
“She did nothing wrong,” said Jose Rico, a member of the N.C. Dream Team, a pro-immigration group that’s taken up Yanez-Mata’s cause. Rico served as interpreter for Yanez-Mata who doesn’t speak English.

“She just wanted to come here and get cable services for her daughter,” Rico continued.

Problems for Yanez-Mata began July 30 when she went to Time Warner offices. There is some debate as to exactly how it happened, but while trying to register for cable service, Yanez-Mata presented a fake Social Security card. She acknowledged Tuesday the card was fraudulent, one she had used in the past pertaining to work.
A Time Warner employee alerted an off-duty Burlington police officer working security for the company that Yanez-Mata had presented a fake Social Security card. An on-duty officer was called to the offices. Yanez-Mata was led outside the business, handcuffed and charged with obtaining property by false pretense, a felony.
The criminal charge against Yanez-Mata was dropped Tuesday by the Alamance County district attorney’s office. The deportation measures persist, which advocates for Yanez-Mata say is wrong. She had no criminal record prior to her July arrest and while in the United States illegally, she is not a problem, they said. Her daughter is a legal U.S. citizen.
“Someone doing nothing but being undocumented, that’s not who we need to spend our resources on,” said Julie Budd of Fairness Alamance, one of the rally attendees.
She said the matter is, in part, one of economics.
“We don’t need them hiding, not spending their money,” Budd said.
Chris Verdeck, assistant chief of the Burlington Police Department, said officers don’t target immigrants to determine if they’re living in the United States without proper documentation.
“It’s not something we go out looking for,” he said. “We target criminals. If they break the law, we act.”
In a news release, Scott Pryzwansky, a Time Warner spokesman, referred to Yanez-Mata’s arrest and possible deportation as “an unfortunate coincidence of events.” He said when customers establish service with the company, they are asked for a form of identification to avoid identity theft. Pryzwansky said the Social Security card Yanez-Mata presented appeared altered.
“It is not our policy to share this kind of information with law enforcement and this action was not following any Time Warner Cable procedure or direction given from any Time Warner Cable employee,” he said. “TWC did not refer Ms. Yanez-Mata to either the county prosecutor or Homeland Security and did not request prosecution. We had reached out to the prosecutor and were working closely with Ms. Yanez-Mata’s criminal attorney, as TWC never had any interest in charges being brought against her.”
Members of the Dream Team dispute some of Time Warner’s statements, saying the officer who first checked Yanez-Mata’s Social Security card wrote in a police report that he investigated the matter while working security for the cable firm and at the request of a customer service representative.
At the rally, supporters of Yanez-Mata asked Time Warner officials to call immigration officials to ask that deportation measures be halted. They also asked supporters to call immigration officials as well as Sen. Kay Hagan.
Asked if she’d take her daughter back to Mexico with her if she was deported, Yanez-Mata, speaking through her interpreter, said she would. At one point she broke down and cried.
“All she wants is to remain in the United States,” Rico said.

Woman

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.

Read more: Burlington woman faces deportation after applying for cable | Piedmont - WXII Home

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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