Illegal immigrant from Mexico had forged license, Putnam sheriff says

LoHud.com
By Terence Corcoran
SOUTHEAST NY

A man in the country illegally from Mexico is being held on a federal immigration warrant at the Putnam County jail after deputies found him with a forged driver's license, police said today.

Ernesto Mendoza-Varela, 24, of Sodom Lane, Brewster, was stopped on Jan. 19 around 11:45 p.m. on Route 22 after members of the Sheriff's Narcotics Enforcement Unit saw him driving erratically, police said.

Mendoza-Varela gave the deputies a Washington state driver's license police determined was fake.

They also determined that his driving privileges were suspended in New York state due to many speeding violations, police said.

The deputies charged him with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, and took him to the county jail in Carmel, where they determined his immigration status and learned he has a similar forgery charge pending in New York City, police said.

He is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail, although the immigration-detainer warrant ensures he will remain jailed even if he were to post bail.

Once his case is adjudicated, he'll be immediately turned over to immigration officials, Sheriff Donald B. Smith said in a release.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110128/N ... iff%20says