Thread: NC: Police: Driver used aliases, has criminal record

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stori...s.35d8c9a.html

Police: Driver used aliases, has criminal record 8:56 PM

08:56 PM EST on Thursday, February 15, 2007

By MARK BOONE / WCNC
E-mail Mark: MBoone@WCNC.COM

The man charged with killing a young mother in a head-on crash last week has used at least six different aliases and has been charged with several crimes in North Carolina, records show.

Federal immigration authorities told WCNC that Carlos Alfonso Guillen Martinez admitted to paying $1500 to a smuggler who drove him to Charlotte from El Paso, Texas, in 2002.

Richard Rocha, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson, said Martinez was arrested for driving while impaired in November 2002. Rocha said Martinez served 40 days in jail after pleading guilty to the charge. Rocha said the arrest was in the Charlotte-area, but it was not clear where Martinez served his jail sentence.

Court records show Martinez was again arrested for DWI in August of 2004. He was also accused of assaulting a Kannapolis police officer. Records show he pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years of probation.

Investigators in Rowan County said Thursday they did not know about the criminal history because Martinez had used several aliases.

A search of various computer databases reveals Martinez had previously used the names David Ortiz, Insolito Pineda, Insolito Hernandez, and Carlos Guillen. Ortiz and Pineda were both listed as inmates in the Rowan County jail in 2004. The men look similar in their jail photographs, and list the same home address and date of birth on their arrest records. Authorities now believe they are the same person.

Police said Martinez, who claims to be 33 years old, was using another alias when he led Kannapolis Police on a pursuit last week, later crashing a Jeep Cherokee into another car on Landis’ Main Street. Investigators said Martinez was carrying a fake Mexico driver’s license and using the name Rigo Verto Guillen Martinez.

Rocha said Martinez is from El Salvador. Federal immigration records show Martinez was first deported from the U.S. in 1997 after police in the Los Angeles area arrested him for assault with a deadly weapon.

Martinez apparently tried to cross the border again in 1998. Rocha said immigration agents arrested him in Houston.

Rocha said Martinez will again face deportation, but will stay in North Carolina to face charges connected to the Feb. 6 crash, which killed Leeanna Newman, 20, and her unborn daughter.

Martinez, who made his first court appearance Thursday morning, is charged with second degree murder and driving while impaired. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the charges.

This does not surprise me. What I don't understand is how they have money to pay smugglers to come here if it is so bad in their country. The only guess I have is that it is money illegally obtained. Then it means that they may have had criminal experience back home and bring that here.